Since the incidents in the late 70's and 80's with 3-Mile Island and Chernobyl, nuclear technology has resides in no-man's land, between doom and dream, or between problem and peril. Twenty years after Chernobyl, is a nuclear renaissance in the making? An overview of the current status of nuclear technology:

Nuclear peril

• Waste: technical solutions exist, but lack of a political agreement

• Proliferation: can and needs to be managed

• Nuclear safety: an issue for older nuclear plants, but promising 'passive safety' designs for new reactors

• The power of the atom: a fistful of matter holding enough energy to power a city of a million for a year

• Climate change mitigation: each major nuclear power station saves 6 million tonne of greenhouse gasses per year compared to fossil-based electricity generation

• Energy security: abundant energy supply when using advanced reprocessing and fast neutron reactors

• Public opinion - taken hostage by extremes

• Technology: extremely complex scientific & technical challenges need global cooperation and a 'man on the moon' momentum

Hans De Keulenaer

I'm an energy systems expert, working in an industry association on energy technology and policy, with prime focus on electrical energy. Professionally, I run the Leonardo ENERGY programme, which publishes a.o. the Sustainable Energy Blog. For energy education and outreach, I co-founded in 2003 a volunteer ngo 'Sustainable Energy for All (SEAL)'.