Deposits and repositories: Electricity wastes in the UK and West Germany
Abstract Nuclear power and coal, the most important present alternatives for electricity generation, have a wide range of environmental impacts. This paper examines policies for radwastes and acid rain abatement in the UK and West Germany, seeking to explain differences in approach in the two countries and the extent of interactions between the two issues. While many of the national differences can be traced to historical and cultural factors, political structures and institutional arrangements in the UK and Germany have been important in determining responses to environmental pressures within the context of wider energy policy objectives.
European pressures and emission prospects
Abstract The UK has come under strong pressure from some of its European partners to curb acid emissions. This paper examines the extent to which the UK's international position may be explained by historic and expected future trends in sulphur dioxide emissions. The electricity supply industry's contribution to UK emissions is examined in some detail. The development of the EEc negotiations on sulphur dioxide emissions is analysed and the early conclusion of these, based largely on the confirmation of Member States' existing emissions abatement plans, is suggested. The possible effect of electricity privatization on power plant investment and associated acid emissions, and the implications for UK compliance with international agreements, is also discussed.
Acid rain in Europe and North America: National responses to an international problem : final report
This study examines in detail the nature and severity of the acid rain problem, what nations are doing about it, and how national and international laws ad policies might ultimately respond. It analyzes the effectiveness of national and international air-pollution control structures in coping with acid deposition and related problems. Further, it discusses the complex scientific issues in lay terms, examines how the laws in major Western countries are not responding to the emerging scientific information on acid-deposition impacts, criticizes international legal structures, and analyzes the activities of the key multilateral organizations and bilateral efforts to cooperate in resolving the North American problem. The report also suggests ways to deal with the longer-term problems of carbon dioxide buildup and ozone depletion in the atmosphere and toxic contaminations of oceans. One of the major conclusions is that the acid rain problem is in many respects so subtle, and the research so new and complex, that a clear picture of its nature and precise impacts will probably not be available for many years. 815 references, 9 figures.