Spinning the Atom, Worldwide

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"There are many reasons why nuclear power is back on the agenda," reports Liz Minchin. There's global warming, and there's a "well funded and carefully planned international public relations strategy selling nuclear power as a 'clean, green and safe' solution to global warming." International conferences have been key to the effort, writes Minchin. At a 2002 nuclear PR conference in Prague, the head of "the industry's peak global study, the World Nuclear Association," called that year's World Summit on Sustainable Development "an enormous opportunity." Former ABC reporter Alan Tate said the nuclear industry first "inundated" international conferences in 1998, "lobbying fiercely ... including with what appeared to be a number of front groups like Students for Nuclear Power." But those early "fairly unsophisticated" efforts have become "much more polished performances" today.