The 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which gets underway today (15 January) in Davos, Switzerland, has determined the key global risk factors to be global warming and the misinformation that surrounds it, but is facing calls to pay more attention to nuclear energy as a critical technology.

Nuclear power is not yet high on the agenda, but UK-based thinktank the New Nuclear Watch Institute (NNWI) said it believes the prospects for renewed investment in new nuclear energy capacity are better now than for two decades.

NNWI chairman Tim Yeo serious analysis from bodies such as the International Energy Agency makes clear that nuclear is an essential part of the global energy mix if the rise in average surface temperature is to stay below 2°C.