At a briefing 20 September 2004 for delegates at the IAEA´s General Conference, experts highlighted nuclear power´s history and prospects in the context of global energy needs, focusing on results of a recent international conference.
The civilian nuclear power timeline started on June 26, 1954 in the town of Obninsk, in the former USSR, when the first nuclear power plant was connected to an electricity grid providing power to residences and business. On that date, nuclear energy crossed the divide from military use to civilian application.
In the briefing, the IAEA´s Mr. Ian Facer, Scientific Secretary to the "International Conference on Fifty Years on Nuclear Power - the Next Fifty Years" held in June in Moscow and Obninsk, summarized the conference´s main findings. The Conference, which hosted over 400 participants from 39 Member States, generated positive and productive discussions. The conference´s main findings centred on public communication, design and development of advanced nuclear systems, non-electricity developments, nuclear safety and security developments, the nuclear fuel cycle and waste management and nuclear energy for sustainable development.
Mr. Hans-Holger Rogner, from the IAEA´s Nuclear Energy Department, previewed the future nuclear energy scenario and addressed the Agency´s activities on energy planning and capacity building in interested Member States and cooperation within the UN system on sustainable energy development.