Nuclear industry needs to break through decades of slow progress to attain tripling target set by COP28
The nuclear industry faces a daunting challenge: tripling its current capacity of 370 gigawatts (GW) by 2050, as vowed at the COP28 climate summit. This ambitious goal requires overcoming financial, material, and temporal constraints.
Challenges
The nuclear industry is grappling with several key challenges. Investment and financing gaps are prevalent, particularly in poorer nations, making it difficult to build new plants or extend existing ones. Uranium supply limitations are another concern, with current forecasts suggesting potential shortages as demand rises with capacity expansion. Time constraints are also a significant hurdle, as nuclear plants take many years to plan, license, and build.
Political and regulatory hurdles, such as licensing delays and opposition related to nuclear waste and safety concerns, remain significant barriers. Global coordination and multilateralism are also complex, especially for developing countries trying to adopt nuclear power, given recent declines in multilateral collaboration and development aid.
Potential Solutions
Several potential solutions have been proposed to address these challenges. Strong political commitments, such as the recent commitment by 31 countries to triple capacity by 2050, are crucial. Financial innovation and support, including backing from major financial institutions, can help bridge the investment gap.
Advanced technologies, like Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and other next-generation systems, can reduce construction time, costs, and improve safety, making nuclear more feasible. International cooperation and knowledge sharing through multilateral initiatives can help scale nuclear capacity globally.
Countries are also introducing roadmaps to reach ambitious nuclear capacity targets, fast-tracking licensing and encouraging innovation. For instance, South Korea's KHNP claims that their iSMR can be built in two years once permits are in place, compared to 10 to 20 years for large reactors.
However, reaching this goal requires overcoming regulatory hurdles, financing obstacles, fuel bottlenecks, and public safety concerns. Some environmental groups and academics have raised concerns about public safety and doubts about whether plants could be brought online in time to help avert a climate catastrophe.
Despite these challenges, progress is being made. HALEU, a highly enriched form of uranium crucial for new reactor technologies, is currently dominated by Russia. However, the US company Centrus has begun producing HALEU, and the European Union is also working on production.
The declaration signed by countries including the United States, France, Britain, South Korea, and others, commits countries to mobilize investment and encourages financial institutions like the World Bank to back nuclear power. In the face of these challenges, the nuclear industry is working tirelessly to meet the goals set at COP28 and contribute to the global fight against climate change.
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