| Since the incidents in the late 70's and 80's with 3-Mile | | | | advanced reprocessing and fast neutron reactors |
| Island and Chernobyl, nuclear technology has resides | | | | From peril to promise |
| in no-man's land, between doom and dream, or | | | | - Public opinion - taken hostage by extremes |
| between problem and peril. Twenty years after | | | | - Technology: extremely complex scientific & |
| Chernobyl, is a nuclear renaissance in the making? An | | | | technical challenges need global cooperation and a |
| overview of the current status of nuclear technology: | | | | 'man on the moon' momentum |
| Nuclear peril | | | | Conclusion |
| - Waste: technical solutions exist, but lack of a | | | | Nuclear technology needs to address its problems, |
| political agreement | | | | and holds tremendous promise if it does. The 'nuclear |
| - Proliferation: can and needs to be managed | | | | option' does not represent a single option, but offers |
| - Nuclear safety: an issue for older nuclear plants, but | | | | many choices on building additional reactors, a |
| promising 'passive safety' designs for new reactors | | | | moratorium ( no new reactors), phaseout (reduce |
| The nuclear promise | | | | existing reactors), reactor types, waste processing |
| - The power of the atom: a fistful of matter holding | | | | and R&D expenditure. |
| enough energy to power a city of a million for a year | | | | When excluding all nuclear options, a plan is needed |
| - Climate change mitigation: each major nuclear power | | | | how to build an energy system without it. The fact |
| station saves 6 million tonne of greenhouse gasses | | | | that we yet have to see such a (transparent) plan |
| per year compared to fossil-based electricity | | | | may relate to the fact that the numbers simply do |
| generation | | | | not add up without the use of nuclear energy. |
| - Energy security: abundant energy supply when using | | | | |