Albania to build a Nuclear Power grid

This news has shocked a lot of Albanians. Nuclear Power grids are not uncommon however considering Albania’s area (29,000 km2) which is over populated, the latest explosions as well as lack of skilled labor force that could deal with this new technology people are very sceptical and scared that it might harm them in some way. However there are others, one of them being our Prime Minister Mr. Sali Berisha who are hopeful that with this new source of energy will give an end to our countinuous powers cuts as well as finally make us have some influence on the region by providing something else rather than labor force. Here is what the Guardian writes about it.  

Albania is undaunted. In a proposal that has alarmed neighbouring Greece but elicited interest from Italy, the country is proposing to host nuclear plants that would supply electricity across the Adriatic by way of an underwater cable.

The news emerged at an Italo-Albanian business conference in Tirana, where the prime minister, Sali Berisha, said he aimed to turn Albania into a regional energy superpower – a glorified socket on the Adriatic capable of supplying cheap electricity to Balkan neighbours and Italy.

He said the government was consulting contractors such as Westinghouse. Zana Gonxholi, an economic adviser to the Albanian government, said a Franco-Swiss consortium had prepared a plan for a nuclear plant at Drac on the north coast.

An Albanian civil nuclear programme could not only help the country fill its own gaping power shortfalls, but get around popular resistance in Italy to nuclear generation. A referendum there in 1987 led to a five-year moratorium on nuclear power, and no government has since dared reopen the issue. But the idea has prompted alarm in neighbouring Greece.

The daily La Stampa yesterday reported that talks had been held with the Italian grid operator, Terna, on linking the Italian and Albanian electricity networks. Pier Ferdinando Casini, a leading candidate to take over from Silvio Berlusconi as leader of the Italian right, said the chance “must not be allowed to slip”.

 

A bit on Nuclear Power

Source: http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf01.html

Nuclear technology uses the energy released by splitting the atoms of certain elements. It was first developed in the 1940s, and during the Second World War research initially focussed on producing bombs by splitting the atoms of either uranium or plutonium.

Only in the 1950s did attention turn to the peaceful purposes of nuclear fission, notably for power generation. Today, the world produces as much electricity from nuclear energy as it did from all sources combined in 1960. Civil nuclear power can now boast over 12,600 reactor years of experience and supplies 16% of global needs, in 30 countries.

Sixteen countries depend on nuclear power for at least a quarter of their electricity. France and Lithuania get around three quarters of their power from nuclear energy, while Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovenia and Ukraine get one third or more. Japan, Germany and Finland get more than a quarter of their power from nuclear energy, while the USA gets almost one fifth.