In the opinion of Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Mohammed ElBaradei, nuclear energy can provide an answer to such global challenges as the struggle against poverty and ensurance of sustainable development, on one hand, and the opposition to the climatic changes and reduction of noxious gas emission in the atmosphere, on the other hand.
ElBaradei voiced the opinion that nuclear energy is no alternative to the renewable sources of energy, but their use is yet underdeveloped and they cannot meet the present demand. This is why nuclear energy will have to develop more actively in the next few years to come.
His opinion is echoed by Luis Eshavarri, head of the Atomic Energy Agency at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. He said that, in conditions of the growing prices of oil, the question of what sources of energy are to be used is standing out and nuclear energy can be a reliable alternative to the use of conventional energy carriers.
Eshavarri noted that OECD and its industrially advanced members have the required machinery and technologies for the development of nuclear energy, which is to take a more noticeable place in the world generation of electricity.
In turn, French Delegate Industrial Minister Patrique Devedjan stressed that nuclear energy can provide an answer to many demands of mankind and the goals facing it.
By way of example he referred to France, which after the 1970s oil crisis has staked on nuclear energy. As a result, nuclear power plants now produce 78 percent of French electricity and the degree of the country's energy independence has increased from 26 percent in 1973 to50 percent nowadays, he said.
Spending on electricity generation has reduced: in 1981 it stood at 5 percent of the GDP and now only 1.8 percent, Devedjan said.
In addition, nuclear energy makes a weighty contribution to the reduction of noxious emissions in the atmosphere, he said. And cited this example: in Europe nuclear energy, accounting for 33 percent of the total electricity generation, annually cuts a volume of hothouse gas emission equal to that of the entire European fleet of automobiles.
