Putin dismisses alternatives to nuclear

Tuesday, 7 September 2010 Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin has said that nuclear energy is the only alternative to traditional energy sources, RIA Novosti reported. Speaking at a meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, he said that while the global gas market has been recovering from the recent economic downturn, demand for energy sources will soar over the next few years. Putin noted, "You couldn't transfer large electric power stations to wind energy, however much you wanted to. In the next few decades, it will be impossible." He said that future energy consumption patterns will only undergo minor changes. Nuclear energy is the only "real and powerful alternative" to oil and gas, Putin asserted, calling other approaches to meeting future energy demand "claptrap."