Busy autumn for the Voices with many international events and projects
Expectations towards the Voices are multiplying and increasingly transcending borders, and this autumn is proof of that.
First on September 5, in Luxembourg, with the aim of carrying the voice of the pro-nuclear civil society to the European Commission. Voices were present in the working groups for the study carried out by Deloitte for the Commission on the treatment of nuclear power in order to meet Europe’s climate commitments. Apart from us, the “citizens’ NGOs” present were all anti-nuclear. Despite appearances, we’ve only just begun to change things in those institutions.
This link between pro-nuclear citizens and decision-makers on the subject is one of the association’s purposes. That’s why, for the first time in 5 years, we went to the WNA Symposium to meet the men and women who make the industry around the world. Our message was clear: no matter how good the product is, if it is not accepted by the public, it will never see the light of day. It was important to reiterate this in London, at the WNA, at a time of renewed excitement in the nuclear ecosystem.
To demonstrate the value of a model like Voices in addressing this issue, we wrote a paper published at the IAEA this summer and formally presented at the atoms for climate conference in Vienna earlier this month. Thanks to this publication, Voices of Nuclear are now accredited by the IAEA.
But Voices is also a european vision of energy, transition and nuclear power. It’s part of the DNA we defend in the TerraWater scenario (which was also the subject of an IAEA publication this year) and which we will continue to defend with the creation of an Institute of the same name, which will carry out prospective work complementary to that of explaining the facts endorsed by the Voices. It was this European and French vision that Myrto was keen to defend when she travelled on our behalf to the Atlantic Council congress in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations summit.
With all this in mind, the Voices are delighted to have a stand at WNE for the first time this year too. It will be an opportunity to maintain that link between the industry and the rest of society that characterizes the association: we have an average of one in two members who have never had anything to do with the industry today. Our presence not only gives a social, environmental and civic dimension to the industry’s actions, but also enables the rest of society to better understand and appreciate what the industry does. We will continue to strive to act as a link between society and the industry, as demanding citizens who wish to benefit from reliable, sustainable nuclear power. We will also be present in the “Zone d’attractivité”.
Finally, in early December, Voices will be attending COP28 in Dubai as an accredited stakeholder, with its own events in the Blue Zone.
In addition to asserting the Voices’ role within the world’s official nuclear bodies, we define, formulate and embodie what a pro-nuclear NGO is.
Neither affiliated with the industry nor against it, but an attentive, rigorous and constructive presence, whose role is to express the demand of citizens to benefit from this unprecedented scientific advance in the energy field that is nuclear power, and to do so under the best possible conditions. A benevolent counter-power, but a counter-power nonetheless.
So many expectations to which we must respond, and all on a voluntary basis.
