Election 2011 - Debate on nuclear power falls silent?

Poland’s first nuclear power plant is billed to go online in 2020. Meanwhile, a survey conducted by TNS OBOP in August shows that only 35 percent of Poles are for its construction, while 51 percent are against it.

As a result, reports the Metro daily, all parties have decided to drop any talk on nuclear power before the upcoming general elections on 9 October.

The opposition conservative Law and Justice party, which does not foresee the construction of a nuclear power plant in its manifesto, cuts short all discussions on the matter.

“We do not know at what stage government preparations are at, and as such we cannot undertake any obligations to invest in nuclear energy if it is not clear they are,” states Wojciech Jasinski, a Law and Justice MP and presently a member of the parliamentary commission on nuclear energy.

The ruling Civic Platform, which is gunning for a second term in parliament, also avoids talks on nuclear power. Adam Czerwinski, an MP from the party, says that “[nuclear energy] is an issue which needs meritocratic debate and the undertaking of cool decisions,” adding that “the [election] campaign is a time of heated political tensions and high emotions.”

However, Czerwinski maintains that Civic Platform’s plans to construct the power plant are ongoing. Junior coalition partners, the Polish Peasants’ Party are staying silent in the matter, however.

“The politicians’ silence neatly fits in with the ongoing government strategy,” Iwo Los from Greenpeace Polska maintains, saying that “any decisions on nuclear energy are taken without public debate and without taking into account any opposing arguments.”

The construction cost of Poland’s first nuclear energy plant is estimated to reach some 40 billion zloty (10 billion euro), although it is not known how much has been spent on the project thus far.

According to the Metro daily, an informational campaign about nuclear power was set to be launched at the end of 2010, but is yet to surface. (jb)