Increasing support for nuclear energy due to climate goals vital opportunity: Expert

The growing support for nuclear energy, fueled by climate goals, presents a vital opportunity that must be seized, according to the head of a London-based nuclear energy think tank.

‘This is a time of great opportunity for the nuclear energy industry. There is more support for it worldwide,’ Tim Yeo, the chairman of the New Nuclear Watch Institute, told Anadolu on the sidelines of a nuclear summit held in Istanbul between July 2-3.

‘We must seize the moment because time is not on our side,’ Yeo added. ‘Climate change is a threat to the survival of the human species.’

Climate goals combined with energy security concerns have accelerated the shift to clean energy, pushing for low-carbon nuclear to the forefront of many countries’ agendas.

Yeo believes the nuclear industry has a significant opportunity. ‘There is much more support for nuclear energy now than ten or 20 years ago.’

Last year in Dubai, during the UN’s climate summit COP28, at least 22 countries had pledged to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050 in line with the net zero targets.

In March, leaders and representatives from over 30 countries also backed measures in areas such as financing, technological innovation, regulatory cooperation, and workforce training to enable the expansion of nuclear capacity to tackle climate change and boost energy security during the Nuclear Energy Summit, the first of its kind, held in Brussels.

– More harmonization of standards and international cooperation needed

However, Yeo said, there is a lot that needs to be done if that opportunity is to be fulfilled.

‘Above all, we need more harmonization of standards, we need more international cooperation,” he noted.

“We need clients who are willing to say, ‘Yes, we will not just build one nuclear plant here, we are going to build four or six or ten.’ Because that is the way you bring the costs down and cost is the biggest barrier to the expansion of nuclear energy,’ he explained.

‘I believe that we should aim for nuclear to provide a quarter of the world’s electricity,’ Yeo added.

According to Yeo, as electricity demand is rising, the capacity of nuclear energy plants has been falling.

Although some countries like China and Russia are investing very heavily in nuclear, he said: ‘In much of the Western world the investment has slowed down.’

Noting the importance of an increase in nuclear investments, Yeo said: “The world needs at least a quarter of its electricity to be nuclear-powered.’

– Nuclear energy ‘great news not just for Türkiye but for neighboring countries’

Yeo praised Türkiye for its decision to commission its first nuclear power plant and its goal to achieve 20,000 megawatts of installed nuclear capacity by 2050.

It is ‘great news not just for Türkiye but for neighboring countries,’ he added.

According to Yeo, if Turkish nuclear is delivered successfully, on time and on budget, it will increase demand for further investment in nuclear capacity, not just from Türkiye but from the whole region.

On Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), Yeo acknowledged that while the speed of their deployment and impact on cost reduction remain uncertain, SMRs will be an important part of the nuclear industry.

“It will take a few years to get into it,” he said. “But I think from 2030 onwards, we can expect to see SMRs growing quickly and that should help to bring the cost down, which in turn will mean that demand for new technologies like SMRs will increase.’

• Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)