Can world answer the new nuclear necessity?

Thanks to climatic change policies and to the prospective studies about the depletion of oil and gas reserves, a new chance will be given to nuclear energy. However, even if the nuclear industry has become more transparent, more attentive to the public preoccupations, and permanently looking for a demonstration of its safety, the institutional bases of its re-start up (the participating decision processes and the competing framework of electric markets) are much less favourable than those of its initial technological development. The future of nuclear energy is not warranted except if a strong consensus happens in dominating countries about the real or assumed catastrophic consequences of the greenhouse effect and if this sudden awareness changes the public opinion about the specific risks of nuclear energy and radioactive wastes. The uncertainty which will remain during, at least, the next 15 years will greatly complicate the choices of the nuclear industry and of the governments. For this reason, a paradoxical effort has to be made for the promotion of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. (J.S.)