Nuclear Energy Agency Online Bulletin
Nuclear development news
The concept of "sustainable development" is very broad. For
the "Earth Summit" held ten years after the meeting in Rio de
Janeiro in Brazil, the UN Secretary-General had put forward five focal
points: water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity.
The breadth of interests represented at the Johannesburg meeting was
also large, spanning world leaders responsible for international policy
to those promoting solar cooking pots. Summit activities included intergovernmental
negotiations, "open" plenary sessions, side meetings, exhibitions
and informal discussions and debates. The NEA joined forces with the OECD
team on site to:
Nuclear energy and climate change were not key issues for this summit,
the latter having been referred to the Eighth Conference of the Parties
to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change [COP
8] to be held in New Delhi, India on 23 October - 1 November 2002.
Discussion of energy issues focused on commitments to the introduction
of "new" renewable energy generation (i.e. not hydropower).
These commitments were not, however, quantified in the final declaration.
During the discussions it appeared that the understanding of new renewable
energy sources, particularly wind power, was very limited in relation
to that of nuclear energy. No in-depth appreciation was demonstrated of
the economics, technical challenges and timing of energy production in
relation to market demand using renewable energy sources.
The conclusions of the summit negotiations are contained in the Plan
of Implementation. Paragraph
19 concerns energy and puts forth 23 recommended actions. Emphasis
is placed on the increased use of renewable energy sources, improved energy
efficiency and greater reliance on advanced energy technologies.