The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Prime Minister of Belgium will hold a Nuclear Energy Summit in Brussels on Thursday, March 21. The event is designed to bring together high-level leaders and members of the international nuclear lobby to discuss the role of nuclear energy in reducing global reliance on fossil fuels.
The agenda for the event prioritizes conversations around innovation and the promotion of nuclear energy as a tool in addressing climate change but apparently lacks programming to discuss critical safety and security considerations around the technology.
Below is a statement by Dr. Edwin Lyman, the director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
“A review of the Nuclear Energy Summit agenda finds that the word ‘safety’ does not appear. Moreover, none of the panels have participants representing nuclear power regulators, much less any independent nuclear safety advocates. It appears the Summit will be taking place in an alternate universe where there is no risk that a nuclear plant will melt down, be attacked by terrorists or military forces, or be misused for production of nuclear weapon materials. This is disrespectful to the multitudes whose lives were upended by the 1986 Chernobyl and 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disasters, as well as the inhabitants of Ukraine and surrounding countries who today are facing a serious ongoing security threat at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Willful ignorance of nuclear power’s very real risks is not a winning strategy if the international community is truly serious about expanding nuclear power to help address the climate crisis.”