IAEA Meeting in Paris

In Paris this week, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is co-hosting a conference in conjunction with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on "Nuclear Power for the 21st Century".

IAEA Director General Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei made his opening statement earlier today. Click here for the Retures digest on his speech:

"All indicators show that an increased level of emphasis on subjects such as fast growing energy demands, security of energy supply, and the risk of climate change are driving a reconsideration, in some quarters, of the need for greater investment in nuclear power," ElBaradei said.

"The IAEA's low projection, based on the most conservative assumptions, predicts 427 gigawatts of global nuclear energy capacity in 2020, the equivalent of 127 more 1,000 megawatt nuclear plants than previous projections," he said.

ElBaradei pointed to nuclear energy policy plans in China, Finland, the United States and possibly Poland as proof that nuclear power may be returning to vogue.

At the same conference, Indonesia's delegate to the conference, Thomas Aquino Sriwidjaja, said the nation was committed to building a nuclear power plant in the next decade.

In conjunction with the confernece, Donald Johnston, Secretary General of the OECD, wrote an Op Ed in the International Herald Tribune:

The future of energy is not the future of any one part of the globe: It is the future of the fragile planet Earth. To safeguard our planet, we must mobilize expertise and resources in support of accelerated energy research.

Nuclear is one of many options, but it is the one with the greatest promise at the moment. Our responsibility is to ensure that our planet survives in a condition hospitable to human life. That, and not a predetermined refusal to consider viable alternatives, must be our promise to future generations.