Nuclear Davos Call for world nuclear forum

A "nuclear Davos", convening the nations and industries that are involved in nuclear power, could be the way to deal with problems arising from the worldwide growth in nuclear-derived energy, according to the UK's science academy.

A world nuclear forum would enable industry, academia and policymakers to meet, and would reflect and exploit the growing internationalisation of the nuclear industry, said the Royal Society in a report published today (13 October).

Such a gathering could explore, for example, how to deal with the cradle-to-grave care of nuclear fuel in a more internationalised way, which could lead to more sensible disposal options, said the report, 'Fuel cycle stewardship in a nuclear renaissance'.

Multinational companies are more likely to be transparent than national governments, because they "are answerable to different sets of people", said Roger Cashmore, chair of the working group that produced the report andchairman of the Ministry of Defence's Nuclear Research Advisory Council.

Cashmore added: "A number of countries worldwide, particularly China, Russia and South Korea, have looked at nuclear, digested Fukushima … and will be carrying on with the[ir] nuclear power programmes.

"There's no doubt that on the international scene there will be a lot more nuclear reactors."

The report lists 43 countries at various stages of nuclear power reactor construction, among them many developing and emerging economies, including Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, South Africa, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.

Many of these countries are pursuing nuclear power for the first time, and the report urges them to formulate long-term research and development (R&D) programmes that could help safely manage the programme and the radioactive waste, as well as provide the technical capacity to respond to "unforeseen changes in policy".

A key recommendation is to not let waste management become an afterthought but include it in initial plans.