Sustainable development: the nuclear power and non-nuclear power in the XXI century

The paper presents the concept of sustainable development and the role of energy in the implementation of this concept. The Rio de Janeiro Agenda 21, the objectives and managerial rules for the long term implementation of sustainable development, as well as its general principles are issued addressed with a special emphasis on the sustainable energy supply. The problem of the radioactive wastes produced by the nuclear energy is especially assessed. The implementation of the sustainable developments principles implies a triangle formed of university, industry and society. While university is ensuring education and sciences the industry's role is to ensure efficiency and technical innovation. The society is appealed then to support science and technology. This talk given in front of Romanian Academy concludes with the following wording by Carl Friedrich von Weizsaecker: All dangers we face are not technically or technologically unsurpassable but rather reflect our inability to use our own innovative and discovery power