Photo: Rita Newman
Alternatives to nuclear power
In 1978 Austria in a referendum voted against the utilisation of nuclear power for energy generation.
Austria was among the Central European countries most seriously hit by the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (1986) and is still surrounded by numerous nuclear power stations.Austrian nuclear power policy is based on the firm conviction that there is no way of bringing nuclear power in line with the principles and priorities of sustainable development. Austria considers itself as a pacemaker on the road to non-nuclear energy supply. Therefore Austria requests the highest possible safety standards of the foreign nuclear power stations operating or planned close to the border.
The anti-nuclear policy pursued by the Austrian Federal Government relies on three strategic pillars:
1. Reduction of the risk from nuclear power plants and nuclear equipment. This may imply the closure of dangerous plants just as much as the improvement of existing plants with respect to their safety standards. As a result of Austria's efforts some nuclear power plants were therefore also closed down within the framework of the EU enlargement, or binding and advanced dates for their closure were set. In other cases, technological improvements had to be carried out.
2. Moreover, Austria attaches importance to energy partnerships with Central and Eastern European countries in order to create the preconditions for the withdrawal from nuclear energy in these countries.
3. Another goal is the further development and improvement of legal instruments on international level as well as of monitoring and early-warning systems to protect the Austrian population and the environment against potential impacts from nuclear power plants in neighbouring countries.
With over 330 stations Austria has a comprehensive network for the permanent monitoring of nuclear radiation.
At the international level Austria promotes a strengthening of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as a controlling instrument and the enhanced funding of non-nuclear energy research within the framework of the European research programmes.
25.08.2008, Lebensministerium Öffentlichkeitsarbeit