The new round of Iran nuclear talks concluded on Feb. 20, where the world powers and Iran agreed on a framework, a plan of action and a timetable to conduct negotiations on a comprehensive agreement in the next four months. “We have had three very productive days during which we have identified all of the issues we need to address in reaching a comprehensive and final agreement,” European Union foreign policy head Catherine Ashton said.

One of the major challenges that negotiations would face, however, is to determine Iran’s real domestic demand for nuclear energy. The reason is that according to the Geneva interim agreement, the comprehensive solution should “involve a mutually defined enrichment program with mutually agreed parameters consistent with practical needs, with agreed limits on scope and level of enrichment activities, capacity, where it is carried out, and stocks of enriched uranium, for a period to be agreed upon (emphasis added).”

Nuclear energy results from the fission or splitting of uranium and plutonium nuclei when a small particle called a neutron hits the uranium atom. As a result of this process, an enormous amount of energy in the form of heat and radiation is released. This energy is used to convert water into steam, which is used for rotation of turbines that generate electricity.

Nuclear energy is a significant source of electricity production and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Nuclear reactors continue to increase in number around the world. As of February 2014, there are 434 operable reactors with the capacity to produce 380,000 megawatts (MW); 70 more reactors with the capacity to produce 75,000 MW are under construction and another 173 reactors are planned or ordered to be built worldwide. According to a January 2014 report by the World Nuclear Association, "Over 45 countries are actively embarking upon nuclear power programs."