"A vast majority of participants affirmed that nuclear power can make a major contribution to meeting energy needs and sustaining the world's development in the 21st century," the 74 nations at the two-day conference said in a final statement.

The statement praised nuclear power for not generating "air pollution or greenhouse gas emissions" and for being "a proven technology."

But the conference organized by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the French government said that for nuclear power to thrive "states must commit themselves to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons."

Also, "all states having or developing a nuclear power program should give due priority to nuclear safety," in an industry haunted by the nuclear accidents at Chernobyl in Ukraine and Three-Mile Island in the United States.

French Industry Minister Patrick Devedjian said in concluding the conference that it was "the first time in a long time that such a large number of states, 74, and international organizations, 10, reflected together on the role that nuclear energy could or should play in their national energy policies."

Among the dissenters to the endorsement for nuclear energy were surely countries like Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden which are phasing out nuclear energy and others like Austria which are against nuclear power but attended the conference. Officials did not provide details on individual nations.

A diplomat present at the conference said however that "give five years and most of Europe will change direction in favor of nuclear energy" since it is relatively inexpensive and other alternative power sources such as wind energy can not make up in large percentages for significantly reduced oil use.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said at the conference's opening session Monday that nuclear energy was "regaining stature" as a key energy source, with concerns over greenhouse gas emissions overcoming worries about accidents at atomic reactors.

He said that "improvements to safety and economics (at nuclear reactors) have not escaped the notice of investors."

"The new expectations regarding nuclear power, particularly over the longer term, have also been strengthened by the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol," which sets limits on the use of fossil fuel in order to protect against global warming from the release of greenhouse gases, ElBaradei said.

He said "nuclear power was dealt a heavy blow by the tragedy of the 1986 Chernobyl accident" but that officials have not "properly publicized the array of measures put in place since Chernobyl to offset the possibility of another severe nuclear accident."

ElBaradei said nuclear energy could help both in addressing needs for energy in developing countries as well as answering the challenges of climate change.

Meanwhile, energy demand is skyrocketing, as is shown by the jump in oil prices.

"Even the most conservative estimates predict at least a doubling of energy usage by mid-century," ElBaradei said.

Elbaradei said security is a prime concern, both to protect against the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to keep terrorists from getting their hands on atomic material, which can be used to make so-called dirty bombs.

"Our aim should be to protect nuclear materials the way we protect gold in Fort Knox," he said.

ElBaradei said "the management and disposal of spent nuclear fuel remains a challenge."

He said projects "on deep geological disposal" of spent fuel were important and that progress towards this was being made in Finland, Sweden and the United States.

All rights reserved. copyright 2018 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.