Nuclear Energy Trade Off and Nonproliferation By Chad D'Amore

| Volume 3 No. 1

	Chad D'Amore Staff Profile

"...avoid the illusion that nuclear energy will solve the CO₂ problem, because as good as it is, nuclear energy is simply not the solution." Prof. Joseph S. Nye, Jr. Priority of the 2009 Italian Presidency of the G8 Italian Foreign Miniser Franco Frattini, in a statement delivered last 3 December in Rome, said that Italy's presidency of the Group of Eight (G8) next year will be an occasion for "a new global governance" and to create a more structural relationship between G8 countries and emerging powers. He said that the G8 model "should enlarge itself in a flexible manner, involving economic and political players and coordinating with the G20 on economic and financial themes in order to have a complete spectrum" of analysis on global issues. "Terrorism, nuclear disarmament and the situations in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Africa," he said, "would be on the political agenda, while economic issues to be given priority are reforms to the Bretton Woods system of monetary management, the development of renewable energy sources, the impact of climate change on the economy and food safety. " The G8, then the G6, was set up in 1975 as a forum for the world's most industrialized nations. Its members are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Italy takes over the rotating chair of the G8 in 2009, with the main summit due to take place in July in La Maddalena, an island off the northern coast of Sardinia.

Washington DC: On 9 December, the Brookings Institute and the Italian Embassy hosted a public dialogue on how the approaching Italian presidency of the G8 might provide a stronger movement towards collaboration on nuclear security. Discussants included distinguished individuals such as Director General for Multilateral Political Cooperation and Human Rights for the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minister Luca Giansanti, and Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations and former dean of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Joseph S. Nye, Jr., as keynote speaker.

Minister Giansanti, in his deliberation, noted that as a result of diminishing petroleum supply and the growing demands for alternate sources of energy, a nuclear renaissance is an undeniable fact of Italy's future. However, this development presents the G8 with many formidable challenges in relation to nuclear security and nonproliferation.

Minister Giansanti said that Italy today is not a nuclear power. But, in May of this year, the Italian government announced its plan to begin construction of nuclear plants within five years. Italy's goal is to have 25% of its energy from nuclear power by 2030, which will require approximately 8-10 large reactors. In preparation for this, Italy has already established a package of nuclear nonproliferation measures, including an independent agency for safety and security.

Italy's development of domestic nuclear capabilities creates a positive externality for its G8 presidency, providing insight and perspective to the international arena through its own discovery of the challenges accompanying the realization of its nuclear ambitions. In highlighting the specific role of the G8 under the Italian presidency in 2009, the Minister mentioned the importance of sustaining the existing initiatives while finding new ways to enforce global commitments to nonproliferation in cooperation with international partners.

Nuclear Energy Photo Archive

Prof. Joseph S. Nye, Jr., in his keynote address, delineated the challenges the international nonproliferation regime will have to concentrate on. He said that a new element receiving considerable attention is the climate problem's stimulation of a nuclear renaissance. This nuclear renaissance can create two to three times more nuclear energy by the year 2050. However, Professor Nye stressed the existing physical and bureaucratic infrastructure beyond the current capacity and thereby generating more security risks. He offered the importance of avoiding the illusion that nuclear energy will solve the CO₂ problem, because as good as it is, nuclear energy is simply not the solution.

Professor Nye reiterated the question on how we act now to balance the increasing need for nuclear energy and its direct correlation with increased security risks. Essentially, the international community needs institutions that can deal effectively the possibility of joint control and other forms of multinational ownership and management which might help to reinforce the effect of international safeguards. On the issue of NPT, professor Nye said that there is a need to fix Article 4 by developing an international fuel bank. He said, "We need institutions to deal with the possibilities of effective joint control", and "examine together forms of multinational ownership and management which might help to reinforce the effect of international safeguards."

Professor Nye also contributed a message of hope as he explained that many of the dilemmas faced today have existed from the very beginning of the story of the split atom that was successfully managed in the 1970's under the administration of President Jimmy Carter. Professor Nye concluded by saying, " we've done it once when we thought it [the nonproliferation regime] was collapsing and there's no reason we can't do it again."