Accelerating
Global Nuclear Renaissance

The global renaissance in nuclear energy is gaining momentum. The major question is not whether nuclear power will grow but whether it will grow quickly enough. To avert climate catastrophe, we must shrink greenhouse emissions over the next 50 years by 60 percent amidst a surge in global population and economic development that will double or even triple energy consumption.
To meet the challenge of achieving a clean-energy revolution, humankind will require a huge expansion of nuclear power to generate electricity, produce hydrogen for tomorrow's vehicles, and drive seawater-desalination plants to meet a fast-emerging world water crisis.

To accelerate the nuclear renaissance, governments must act decisively
    1) A Comprehensive Treaty. A post-Kyoto climate treaty must include all major nations and yield a steady, long-term contraction in global emissions. The key is an emissions trading mechanism that yields efficiency in clean-energy investment and a net flow of investment from North to South. This economic assistance will be the most cost-effective in history if it prevents the globally destructive greenhouse emissions that will otherwise occur in the developing world.
    2) National Investment. Full-scale nuclear investment is still impeded by the absence of carbon penalties and the fact that 21st century nuclear reactors have not yet achieved economies of scale. Governments must prime the pump using start-up aids such as loan guarantees.
    3) Multinational investment. Today the UN's major development institutions are still captive to unscientific anti-nuclear prejudice, while the IAEA works alone to promote the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Governments must direct the World Bank and the UN Development and Environment Programs to pursue a clean-energy vision with nuclear power in a central role.
    4) Education. Recently leading academic institutions in 25 countries formed a partnership called the World Nuclear University to build standards for a globalizing nuclear profession. To support this effort, governments worldwide should marshal their own resources and we must summon the great philanthropies to supply a global infusion of scholarship funds for studies in peaceful nuclear science.
Today technology is spurring a growth in world population and energy consumption that jeopardizes the future of our biosphere. Wisely used, technology can also be our salvation.
The writer is director general of the World Nuclear Association. He was U.S. ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency and other UN agencies in Vienna, 1993-2001. nw