OREANDA-NEWS. June 21, 2017. Key panelists of the Plenary Session of  ATOMEXPO-2017 IX International Forum in Moscow exchanged their opinions on the role of nuclear energy in securing carbon-free energy of the future.The key theme of the forum this year is Nuclear Technologies: Safety, Environment, Sustainability.
 
The key panelists of the Plenary Session were First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office, Rosatom State Corporation Supervisory Board Chairman, S.V. Kirienko;  Rosatom State Corporation Director General, A.E. Likhachev; IAEA Deputy Director-General, M.V. Chudakov; Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) Nuclear Energy Agency Director-General, William D. Magwood; World Nuclear Association (WNA) Director General, Agneta Rising; French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) General Administrator, Daniel Verwaerde; Minister responsible for the  Paks Nuclear Power Plant (Hungary) expansion, J?nos S?li; Head of Rossotrudnichestvo, L.N. Glebova; Deputy Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (MENR) of Turkey, Alparslan Bayraktar; Deputy Prime-Minister of Belarus V.I. Semashko; President of the Science Council for Global Initiatives (SCGI), Tom Blees. The session was moderated by Kelvin Kemm, Chairperson of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (NESCA).
 
Before the Plenary Session began, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office and  Rosatom  State Corporation Supervisory Board Chairman S.V. Kirienko gave his welcoming remarks. He read out the greeting telegram from the President of the Russian Federation to the participants of the Forum. S.V. Kirienko also noted, “We cherish our longstanding partnership with different countries. We do hope that after this forum we will have a lot of new partners to develop safe “green” nuclear energy with. In conclusion, he wished the participants of the Forum successful and fruitful work.

The moderator of the session Kelvin Kemm ran a voting in the audience on the question: “What do you think the share of nuclear energy in total global energy generation will be by 2050?” The majority of voters believed that the share of nuclear energy will exceed 20%.
 
Agneta Rising (WNA) and William Magwood (OECD NEA) voiced their views on the choice of nuclear energy as priority in the global “green” energy mix. Proceeding from the decisions made at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, only nuclear energy can both meet the accelerating growth of energy consumption and reduce CO2 emissions.
 
Head of Rossotrudnichestvo L.N. Glebova articulated the opinion of humanitarian community that nuclear technologies and sustainable development of the country are two closely intertwined conditions of shaping the future of carbon-free energy. Humanitarian engineering in this matter is a necessary prerequisite to tap new markets.
 
IAEA Deputy Director-General M.V. Chudakov spoke on how IAEA helps the countries that are novices in the nuclear energy market overcome possible hurdles connected with the choice of nuclear energy and NPP construction.

Speakers who expressed their views represented several countries, including those who have just made the choice in favour of nuclear energy and those who have been successfully developing this sector. Thus Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus V.I. Semashko explained why Belarus decided to build its first NPP, described the work done in the field of safety and environment and said what contribution will be made by the  Ostrovets  NPP to the Belarusian carbonless energy sector. J?nos S?li, Minister responsible for the  Paks Nuclear Power Plant expansion, talked about the role of nuclear energy in the Hungarian economy and (as an ex-mayor of the city of Paks) about the attitude of population towards the NPP construction.
 
Deputy Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey Alparslan Bayraktar described the role of nuclear energy in the new energy policy of Turkey. He based his speech on a recent important event – a license for electricity generation was issued to the Turkish Akkuyu NPP.
 
The participants to the plenary session of the  ATOMEXPO-2017 Forum agreed that nuclear generation could serve as a reliable basic source of energy and as a foundation for the carbonless energy of the future.
 
In his closing remarks, ROSATOM Director General A.E. Likhachev noted that to attain the planned growth rates for nuclear energy and to satisfy the growing level of energy consumption on the backdrop of reducing CO2 emissions, the key players in the nuclear energy market have to unite their effort and to act together in one direction. And the public acceptance of the nuclear energy should become a necessity.