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In order to claim more importance for nuclear power, the nuclear industry repeatedly overstates nuclear energy's share of electricity generation. If one examines closely what contribution nuclear energy makes to total worldwide energy consumption, it becomes evident that nuclear power is of practically no significance for mankind's energy needs. In 2001, nuclear electricity supplied only 2.3 percent of worldwide energy needs. Renewable energy's contribution to world energy supply is already significantly greater. The human race can easily do without nuclear power's marginal contribution. The risks of nuclear accidents, production of highly radioactive waste and the costs necessary for its disposal, bear no rational relationship to the slight short-term gain in energy that nuclear power provides. Nuclear power is both hazardous and superfluous.