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In this second edition of The New Energy Crisis, it was decided to devote a special chapter to nuclear energy. This does not mean that the review of this energy source in the framework of a specific country or region is not relevant, but in 2011 the major accident in Japan, at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, had an influence on the development of nuclear energy everywhere.

The third annual meeting of the Moscow International Energy Club (MIEC) addressed a wide range of topics related to energy for Europe in transition. The focus of the Conference was on environmental aspects of energy production. Economic, political, and technical aspects of the different energy resources were discussed within the framework of the current status of energy in the European community, including Eastern Europe and Russia. Future prospects for international cooperation in the development and supply of clean energy were evaluated. The presentations included papers on fossil fuels and nuclear power, including disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high level waste. This summary of the Conference Proceedings provides a review of the papers and comments that were presented.

The objective of this paper is to propose and to discuss a solution which makes it possible to store, as quickly as possible, all weapons-grade plutonium no longer used in the Russian military program, in a way that makes diversion extremely difficult, and the re-use in weapons form by the Russian government difficult and visible.

We should add that the above remarks on future competitivity concern global trends. A more accurate appraisal should take into account the situation country by country, since situations may differ greatly.

Electricity has specific characteristics that make it attractive for many end-use purposes. It is versatile, easy to distribute, clean and efficient at the end-use point and has some non-substitutable uses (e.g., lighting, communications, computers, electric motors). Electrification of rural areas in developing countries contributes to a better distribution of employment opportunities and a more equitable access to health and education services, as well as improving the overall standard of living.

The long-term incentive for the development of breeders is well known: better use of natural uranium in order to extend the potential of nuclear energy by a factor of 50 with given uranium resources, and in fact by a much larger factor, since also uranium resources from low-grade ores can be used economically in breeder reactors. Nuclear energy without breeders represents a relatively modest contribution to the world’s total energy supply; with breeders, it allows thousands of years of high energy consumption.