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Nuclear Energy at Scale: A New Pathway to Meet the Climate and Human Development Challenge

December 7, 2023 Category: Technology Work Area: Advanced Nuclear

Nuclear energy can help tackle the global challenges of climate change and human development by delivering secure, abundant, carbon-free energy to millions of people worldwide. This report proposes a suite of commercial and regulatory solutions that together provide nuclear energy with a new pathway to future success.

Launched at COP28 in Dubai just days after 22 nations committed to tripling global nuclear energy deployment, the report provides solutions that can help enable the changes needed to turn that ambition into action.  

The six mutually reinforcing solutions that together can reduce cost and increase confidence from investors are:  

  1. Productization: Shift from slow, expensive mega-projects to standardized, manufactured products to reduce costs. 
  1. Large Orderbooks: Aggregate demand for repeat builds of the same design to achieve cost reductions. 
  1. Plant Delivery Integration: Establish independent nuclear development organizations (INDOs) to streamline project development and deployment. 
  1. Harmonized Global Licensing: Create a Global Licensing Authority (GLA) to provide globally accepted Design Acceptance Certificates (DACs). 
  1. Technical Support for New Nuclear Nations: Form an International Technical Support Organization (ITSO) to assist first-time nuclear countries in overcoming licensing barriers. 
  1. Broader Financing Access: Establish an International Bank of Nuclear Infrastructure (IBNI) to provide financing and support for nuclear programs.