The U.S. and Russia, long Cold War enemies who directed their nuclear weapons at each other, yesterday joined forces to promote the idea that a significant expansion of nuclear energy can improve energy security for countries around the globe, not to mention reduce emissions of harmful greenhouse gases.

Global Insight Perspective
Significance At the G8 energy ministers' meeting in the Russian capital, Moscow, both the U.S. and Russia touted the concept that the 'safe and secure' use of nuclear power could be a key alternative for countries to ensure a stable supply of energy in an era of high oil prices. Implications With the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP) accident in Ukraine coming up next month and an ongoing diplomatic crisis over Iran's nuclear ambitions, environmentalists will no doubt be questioning just how 'safe and secure' any expansion of nuclear power can be, even if it is a cleaner form of energy production than the burning of fossil fuels. Outlook U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said that the U.S. hopes to see a 'rebirth' of the global nuclear industry, but the emerging competition between Russia and the U.S. to be the chief nuclear fuel supplier to developing countries - as well as ingrained opposition to nuclear power on safety grounds - could raise proliferation concerns and put a damper on a more robust increase of nuclear energy around the world.

Energy, Yes; Weapons, No

With energy security taking centre-stage at a meeting of G8 energy ministers in the Russian capital, Moscow, it may strike some as ironic that the U.S. and Russia - long-time enemies who had thousands of nuclear weapons pointed at each other during the Cold War - would come together as strong advocates for the expansion of nuclear power. Times certainly have changed - where once the U.S. and Russia faced off over a nuclear divide, posing a threat to the future of the globe, now the two countries are joining forces to promote the use of nuclear energy as a way to enhance global security, at least from an energy perspective.

Global Nuclear Power at a Glance

Total Nuclear Power Plants in Operation 443

Number of Countries with Nuclear Power Plants 33 Total Global Installed Net Nuclear Generation Capacity 369.552 GW Countries in Which Nuclear Power Makes Up More than 50% of Electricity Generation (2004) 6* Number of Nuclear Reactors Under Construction 26** Number of Reactors Put into Commercial Operation or Connected to the Grid (2005) 8 Source: IAEA (all figures as of 31 December 2005 except where noted)

• France, Lithuania, Slovakia, Belgium, Sweden, Ukraine **including 3 initiated in 2005

The Russian government has promised to make energy security the focus of its chairmanship of the G8 this year, and nuclear power emerged yesterday as a potential key aspect of improving that energy security. Although fossil fuels will almost certainly continue to hold a dominant position in the energy sector until at least the middle of the century, the U.S. and Russian push for an expansion of nuclear power, combined with the G8 focus on reducing greenhouse gases and increasing the use of renewable energy sources, demonstrates the belief that high oil and gas prices are seen as a 'threat' to global energy security in much the same way that the continued burning of fossil fuels is seen as a threat to the Earth due to global warming.

The concept of energy security has come into sharp focus in recent months, especially in the wake of the disruption in Russian gas supplies to Europe in January (see 'Related Articles' below). Yet, while European members of the G8 were disposed to viewing the energy security question through that prism, the fact that Germany is phasing out nuclear power, while Japan has had several problems with its NPPs, indicated that not all members of the G8 were in agreement.

Furthermore, with Iran having recently been referred to the U.N. Security Council over its move to resume uranium enrichment - which Iran says is necessary for nuclear energy production, but which the international community fears is for making nuclear weapons - the emphasis on an expansion of nuclear energy raises a key question: how do you bolster the use of nuclear energy around the globe without contributing to proliferation worries and a repeat of the Iran situation? Although the increased use of nuclear energy contributes to energy security in developing countries that lack access to other forms of energy, that very same nuclear know-how could prove a threat to international security if it falls into the wrong hands.

Outlook and Implications

Both Russia and the U.S. have recently sought to address this conundrum surrounding a potential 'rebirth' (as U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman suggested) of nuclear power. Russia, which has been engaged in tense discussions with Iran over the latter's nuclear ambitions, has proposed a joint enrichment centre in Russia, which would allow Iran to secure nuclear fuel needed for energy production while ensuring that the spent fuel was returned to Russia, thereby alleviating concerns that Iran would use the spent fuel to make nuclear weapons. Similarly, the U.S. has proposed a 'Global Nuclear Energy Partnership' (GNEP) initiative as a programme to help supply developing nations with access to nuclear fuel in exchange for those countries agreeing to forgo enrichment and recycling technologies.

This emerging competition between Russia and the U.S. to become the leading supplier of nuclear fuel to developing countries could contribute to proliferation concerns, however. Already, tension between the two countries has emerged over Russia's supply of uranium to India's Tarapur NPP, which comes in the wake of a U.S. deal with India earlier this month. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said yesterday that Russia did not violate any international commitments under the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) guidelines, noting that Russia informed the NSG of the supply of fuel to India to ensure 'strategic security'. The NSG, an informal group of countries that prohibits member nations (such as the U.S. and Russia) from supplying nuclear equipment or fuel to states (such as India) that have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, lists a safety exception clause that allows fuel transfers if there is reason to believe that starving a reactor of fuel could result in a nuclear hazard.

Russia did not specify that there was any danger of a nuclear hazard in India, but that very possibility is what incenses environmentalists about the push to increase the use of nuclear power around the world. Although nuclear power production emits no carbon or greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, the prospect of another Chernobyl is what haunts them. Yet, with the U.S. remaining on the outside of the Kyoto Protocol, the expansion of nuclear power in places such as the U.S. could reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels and thus help address climate change worries. Environmentalists may have to rethink their opposition to nuclear power in the face of the Russian and American campaign for the expanded use of nuclear power as a means to enhance access to energy supplies, improve global energy security, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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