Abstract
Nuclear power has been neglected and has attracted too much bad publicity eg. The UK's Sellafield debacle. This has allowed a minority of anti-nuclear campaigners to further undermine the nuclear power industry.
Governments should re-evaluate their energy policies and consider if it is in national interests to continue to subsidise underground coal mining and renewable energy sources whilst neglecting nuclear power. It is encouraging that the last Chernobyl reactor in the Ukraine has been closed, Sweden has delayed the phasing out of nuclear power and France has reorganised its nuclear sector to improve profitability, transparency and PR. Optimists hope that France will soon commission work which will lead to replacement of its 58 nuclear reactors.
Extracts from papers given at the Uranium Institute Symposium 2000 are included which provide nuclear industry expert views.
These views are supplemented by the latest US DOE/EIA projections to 2020.