Brazil and green groups said today the Earth Summit was considering giving a boost to nuclear energy, seen by environmentalists as a pariah technology blighted by a poor safety record.
They said a paragraph proposed for inclusion in the summit agreement originally intended to boost renewable energy such as solar and wind power had been amended to included an open-ended reference to "energy technologies".
The reference, in a passage calling for diversifying energy sources and transfering energy know-how to poor countries, would be seized on by the nuclear industry as an opportunity to promote the controversial technology, Brazilian government delegates and environmentalists argue.
"We do not believe this (paragraph) is the place to put nuclear," Brazilian Environment Minister Jose Carlos de Carvalho said.
"This is absolutely outrageous," said Greenpeace policy director Remi Parmentier. "It would open the way to increasing the world's share of nuclear power.
The clause is part of a sweeping United Nations plan for easing poverty while protecting the environment which negotiators are struggling to agree before world leaders gather in Johannesburg tomorrow, hoping to sign off on the pact.