Venice 2022, Oliver Stone: “Only clean nuclear will save us”

(Adnkronos / Cinematografo.it) – “I want the world to be saved and that my children and my grandchildren can live again”. Word of Oliver Stone at the press conference for the presentation of his doc ‘Nuclear’, out of competition at the Venice Film Festival. Based on the book ‘A Bright Future: How Some Countries Have solved Climate Change and the Rest Can Follow’ by Joshua S. Goldstein and Staffan A. Qvist, the film explores the possibility for the global community to overcome the challenge of climate change and access a brighter future through the power of nuclear energy. “We are full of bad news that is getting worse and worse: from the flooding in Pakistan to the heat wave in Europe, from the drought that has worsened enormously in the last five hundred years to the rivers that are almost dry. There are increasingly aggressive storms. These are all warnings for us humans. The book from which I took inspiration has a positive approach. He tells you we can still do things. We’re not just victims, ”says the director, who was given an unprecedented approach to the nuclear industry to make this film. to nuclear energy, a long propaganda campaign, largely financed by oil interests, has begun to scare the public. This campaign would have sown fear of radiation, even if it is so low as to be harmless, as well as creating confusion between nuclear weapons and nuclear energy. Voters don’t know much about nuclear power. There is a great deal of confusion, as we explain at the beginning of the film, between nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. Nuclear energy has positive aspects and we need to turn it into electricity. This is crucial because the world will need a lot of electricity in the future. Much more than we have now. In addition, nuclear gives heat and this heat can be used in a non-toxic way. ”And the author of the book, Goldstein points out:“ There is a potential to transform the economy around the world. We have to replace fossil fuels and nuclear is the only way forward. “On European sanctions on Russian gas, Stone says:” There are no sanctions for nuclear power. There are many products that are not subject to penalties. I look into the long term. I am an optimist and an idealist. I always have been and have watched a terrible confrontation between the United States and Russia end in the past. I’m talking about the end of the cold war with Gorbachev. It was an extraordinary period of cooperation in space between the United States and Russia that worked for years. So let’s not talk about hatred between these two countries because it comes and goes. War is an important step backwards for the whole world. We have to learn to cooperate. ”A film that Oliver Stone took two years to make. Finally Goldstein concludes: “Our generation grew up with the fear of nuclear power as an offensive weapon. I hope this film can help fight these fears. Nuclear energy can serve us and make us move forward. Everyone knows that in twenty years, one hundred years, climate change will be even faster. Both Oliver Stone and I have children in their 20s and are worried about their future. So many countries are changing their politics after looking out the window at climate change. There are no other options. Nuclear energy is the only one that can be implemented quickly and that is why it is so important ”.