Meeting the energy challenge for the environment: The role of safety

Nuclear power has an overwhelming potential to meet the demands of an energy hungry world while protecting the environment. However, the renaissance of nuclear energy will only become true when the public can be convinced that nuclear power plants are safe and that a strong safety culture exists around the globe. While the overall safety performance of the world's power plants had been steadily improved after the shock of Chernobyl, unfortunately, the overall plant availability has levelled off in the last few years. The main reason for this is found in a complacency toward nuclear safety issues which can be linked to the arrival of new CEOs in the nuclear industry who – all too often – have no nuclear background and who manage nuclear power plants in the same way they would manage any other industrial plants – being not at all aware of the necessity of a very special and very sensitive safety culture of nuclear installations.