John RitchDirector General, World Nuclear AssociationInternational Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants(ICAPP - 2005)
Seoul, 16 May 2005
Five years ago, we entered a new century that will test humankind's ability to prosper on this planet without destabilising the very biosphere that enabled civilisation to evolve. As a direct result of this historic challenge, we are witnessing a global rebirth of nuclear energy.
Today the nuclear renaissance is gathering momentum on a wide world stage. At present, 30 nations representing two-thirds of humanity use some 440 nuclear reactors to produce 16% of global electricity. Soon, nuclear power will extend to important new nations as diverse as Poland, Turkey, Vietnam and Indonesia. This broad base - representing most of world population and economic activity - will provide the foundation for a nuclear century.
The True Environmental Problem: Nuclear Growth is Too Slow
For clear-minded environmentalists, the great question before us is not whether nuclear energy will grow but whether it will grow rapidly enough to play its needed role in the clean-energy revolution our world desperately needs.
The urgency is acute. Our best climate experts tell us that we are fast heading toward a point of irreversible, catastrophic climate change with consequences for sea levels, species extinction, epidemic disease, widespread drought and extreme weather events that will disrupt all civilisation.
Every authoritative analysis points to an inescapable imperative: Humankind cannot conceivably achieve a global clean-energy revolution without a huge expansion of nuclear power - to generate electricity, produce hydrogen for tomorrow's vehicles, and desalinate seawater to meet a fast-emerging world water crisis.
Where do we stand in meeting legitimate public concerns about nuclear energy? And what must be done to accelerate the nuclear renaissance?
Meeting Legitimate Public Concerns
Under any fair assessment, the nuclear community has risen to the challenge of meeting legitimate public concerns about nuclear energy. Nuclear power today is not just acceptably safe; it is the most secure and efficient means of reconciling the global imperatives of human need and environmental preservation.
Accelerating the Nuclear Renaissance
But meeting legitimate public concerns will not be sufficient to drive a nuclear renaissance at the pace required by the urgency of our environmental crisis. Governments must take decisive action in three areas:
1) Construct a Comprehensive Global Regime. First, they must move beyond Kyoto to a comprehensive treaty on climate. It must include all major nations and yield a steady, long-term contraction in global emissions. The key is an emissions-trading mechanism that yields incentives and efficiency in clean-energy investment.
The operative concept must be "contraction and convergence". "Contraction" means a global reduction in greenhouse emissions of some 60%. "Convergence" means using the principle of equal per-capita emission rights.
The principle of equal emission rights is not idealistic. Politically, it is the only feasible principle. Economically, the gap between rights and actual usage will provide the basis for a dynamic international trading mechanism that produces a net flow of clean-energy investment from North to South. This economic assistance will be the most cost-effective in history if it prevents the globally destructive growth in greenhouse emissions that will otherwise occur in the developing world.
2) Elevate Nuclear Investment to a National and International Policy Priority. The second necessity is direct support for nuclear investment through national and international policies. Over the long-term, nuclear power is competitive. But governments must prime the pump using a full range of incentives: tax benefits, loan guarantees, temporary production subsidies, and first-of-a-kind engineering grants. The goal is not to subsidise nuclear operations permanently but to accelerate the nuclear renaissance for reasons of energy and environmental security.
A similar rationale applies internationally. Today the UN's key development institutions still embrace an unscientific anti-nuclearism, leaving the IAEA alone in promoting the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Governments must now direct the World Bank and the UN Development and Environment Programmes to pursue a clean-energy vision with nuclear power in a central role.
3) Preparing the Nuclear Profession for a Nuclear Century. A third governmental imperative is to stimulate enrolments in the study of nuclear science and technology so as to bridge the gap between current educational activity and future global needs.
To point the way toward a globalising nuclear profession, the World Nuclear Association is working with the IAEA, WANO, and the NEA to support the new World Nuclear University - a worldwide partnership of leading institutions of nuclear learning spanning more than 30 countries. The WNU's aims are to enhance nuclear coursework worldwide, establish widely accepted global standards in academic and professional qualification, and elevate the prestige of the nuclear profession.
What our nuclear future now calls for is a major global infusion of scholarship funds. Governments around the world should marshal their own resources - and we must summon the support of the great philanthropies - in order to build the professional nuclear cadre we need for a nuclear century.
The Role of the WNA: Organising for the Nuclear Renaissance
Let me now describe what the WNA is doing to help accelerate the global nuclear renaissance.
1. Serve as a Global Industry Forum.
First, we serve as a global forum for the nuclear industry on a wide range of key topics, both technical and political. Comprised of industry experts, these working groups exchange information and develop knowledge and strategy. They also produce specific outputs that appear later on this list.
One feature of this ongoing forum is our annual World Nuclear Fuel Cycle (WNFC) conference. We conduct this event each spring in partnership with the Nuclear Energy Institute in locations that rotate to include America, Europe and Asia.
2. Act as Respected Global Information Resource.
Second, we provide a unique, highly respected information resource on the global nuclear industry. The centrepiece is the WNA website. Its offerings include some100 frequently-updated information papers, which receive over 5,000 hits a day - or some 2 million hits a year - from both inside and outside the industry.
We also operate three WNA news services, pitched to different audiences, while we work to educate editors and journalists in the global media. A recent WNA contribution to the public debate was a widely-seen article in The Washington Post, which appeared during congressional action on U.S. energy legislation.
3. Develop Industry Position Statements.
Next, we are developing strong industry position statements on a wide range of technical and political topics. These papers achieve a multiple benefit:
4. Propound the Nuclear Case in UN, Business and Other International Forums.
Fourth, we represent the nuclear industry in UN forums focussed on sustainable development and climate change. We also participate in international business groups that are active in these forums, chiefly the International Chamber of Commerce and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development.
Our presence in these business forums helps to build awareness in the business community that the nuclear industry is in fact one of the great environmental tools available to humankind.
Sometimes we work behind the scenes, as we have in preparations for this year's G-8 conference in Britain, where we hope to see communiqué language recognising nuclear power's indispensable role in reducing greenhouse emissions. We are also working with the major developing countries called the G-4 - India, China, Brazil, and South Africa - encouraging them to convert their individual pro-nuclear policies into a collective affirmation in UN forums that nuclear power is essential for sustainable global development.
5. Project Industry Perspective vis-à-vis ICRP, IAEA, and NEA.
Fifth, we are acting as the global industry's unified voice in influencing the work of key standard-setting organisations, including the International Commission on Radiological Protection.
In the past 2 years, the ICRP has considered major revisions in its radiological protection norms, and has begun to explore the new issue of protecting non-human species. The resulting changes could have a far-reaching impact on nuclear industry operations. By developing and expressing a coherent industry voice, the WNA Working Group on Radiological Protection is achieving significant influence by asserting industry expertise and perspective.
6. Demonstrate the Affordability of Nuclear Power.
Sixth, we are producing an authoritative analysis of the economics of nuclear power in the 21st century.
In recent years, various studies have yielded a generally positive but somewhat confused message on this key question. To clarify the situation - and to underscore the industry's increasingly competitive position - our Working Group on Industry Economics has assembled a cross-section of industry expertise to critique, synthesize, and build on previous studies.
Later this year we will publish an authoritative report that can serve the industry as a single, comprehensive analysis demonstrating that nuclear power's environmental virtues are now a pure bonus because nuclear has become a sound option on economics alone.
7. Facilitate Incident-Related Public Communication.
Seventh, we have engaged with the IAEA to ensure that nuclear incidents are accurately characterised and portrayed.
On the technical side, we established an Event Definition Working Group that has worked with the Agency to re-examine the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES). Regarding public communication, we are establishing a WNA-IAEA link to foster prompt two-way information-sharing - between government and industry - on nuclear incidents that may rise to a level of international concern.
Both efforts will serve the public interest in receiving timely, accurate information that is minimally susceptible to misunderstanding or exaggeration.
8. Publish Valuable Tools for a Globalising Nuclear Industry.
Eighth, we are producing publications useful to our fast-globalising industry:
a) Our Global Nuclear Fuel Market report, already a well-established industry resource, is updated every two years.
b) Nuclear English, to be published later this year, will offer a highly innovative course of English-language instruction for nuclear professionals.
c) Another WNA publication later this year - titled Nuclear Power: Energy for Sustainable Development - will be a world-class textbook that we will eventually make available in multiple languages.
9. Convene the Industry's Leaders for Strategy Development.
Ninth, we conduct the Annual WNA Symposium in London each September as a premier global nuclear industry event.
This year, we will use the occasion of the 30th Annual Symposium to initiate a new tradition by convening key nuclear CEOs in an annual nuclear industry "summit" to consider collective actions to advance the global industry's cause.
10. Support Actions at the National Level to Advance Nuclear Power.
Tenth, we work with our member companies, national nuclear associations, and the global Women-in-Nuclear (WIN) organisation to help them promote the case for nuclear power.
11. Engage with IAEA to Shape Developments on Nuclear Fuel Cycle Security.
A new WNA project concerns the IAEA initiative to limit the world's nuclear fuel cycle facilities while guaranteeing commercial supply for legitimate energy needs.
The question at issue is how best to reconcile non-proliferation objectives with environmental needs and commercial realities. Last month the WNA established a new Working Group on Securing the International Nuclear Fuel Cycle to engage the IAEA constructively on this goal.
12. Strengthen the Industry's Educational Foundations.
Finally, we have worked to strengthen the industry's educational foundations by initiating the new World Nuclear University. We support the WNU partnership using a small WNU Coordinating Centre co-located with the WNA in London. There are now 10 WNU global working groups.
Meanwhile, the new WNU Summer Institute will function, with the benefit of IAEA support, as an elite academy for future industry leaders. These annual events will rotate regionally. The first one - an intensive 6-week course for 75 WNU Fellows from 32 countries - will be held this July and August at the Idaho National Laboratory in the USA.
A Cost-Effective Global Instrument for Essential Industry Support
During the last four years, the rapid growth of the World Nuclear Association has shown that nuclear enterprises all around the world recognise the future promise of our industry and the value of a cost-effective global association to support it.
They see in the WNA a double benefit: effective representation of the industry's collective interests and, for each member, a convenient means of expanding its commercial and professional contacts as our industry becomes ever more globalised.
I invite companies not now involved in the WNA to consider the value - for their industry and for themselves - in joining us. A year from now, our annual WNA-NEI World Nuclear Fuel Cycle conference will be held in Hong Kong (5-7 April 2006), and we hope to see you there.
As our world advances into a nuclear century, the WNA is acting as an essential organising force for a global industry that has been summoned by human need and environmental necessity to play a great and historic role. We urge - and welcome - your participation.