Cover Osteuropa 4/2006

In Osteuropa 4/2006

Siamese Twins
Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Weapons

Otfried Nassauer


Deutsche Fassung

Abstract

The world is using more and more energy. Oil and natural gas are finite resources. Nuclear energy is possibly on the verge of a renaissance. But the civil use of nuclear energy is in terms of technology a double-edged sword. It can serve military ends and lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Such proliferation entails enormous security risks. The global non-proliferation system for nuclear weapons is in crisis. There exists an irresolvable contradiction between trying to prevent other states from acquiring nuclear weapons and promoting the use of civil nuclear technology.

(Osteuropa 4/2006, pp. 239–271)