Nuclear power is in the spotlight at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Azerbaijan, where both countries and industries presented plans to deploy the carbon-free energy technology, building on the historic consensus to accelerate its use that emerged from last year's climate summit.
Reaching global decarbonization targets by 2050 will require a significant expansion of nuclear power. This was acknowledged at the first Nuclear Energy Summit in March 2024 as well as in the Global Stocktake at COP28 and the pledge by more than 20 countries to seek to triple nuclear capacity. But to get there, capital is urgently needed, said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi. "Finance institutions need to evolve with the changing demands of the market-and there's a clear demand for and growing interest in nuclear," Mr Grossi said at a high-level event co-hosted by the COP29 Presidency and the IAEA that focused on financing low-carbon energy projects including nuclear power.
The high-level event featured speakers including Mr Grossi and Parviz Shabazov, Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan; Herbert Krapa, Deputy Minister of Energy of Ghana; Fatih Birol, IEA Executive Secretary; Francesco La Camera, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA); Tatiana Molcean, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE); Mark Bowman, Vice President for Policy and Partnerships, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD); Sama Bilbao y Leon, Director General of the World Nuclear Association; and Seth Agbeve, Director of Renewable Energy at the Ministry of Energy of Ghana.
The event followed the signing of a memorandum of understanding by the IAEA and Azerbaijan in which the Agency agreed to provide energy planning capacity building services, including a joint analysis under the Atoms4NetZero initiative on the potential role of nuclear energy in Azerbaijan's clean energy transition.
Noting the importance of nuclear energy for Azerbaijan's future, Azerbaijan Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov said at the event that "Azerbaijan sees opportunities for nuclear energy to be part of its energy mix in the future, as clean energy."
Mr. Grossi signed cooperation agreements with several organizations at COP29. The company LinkedIn agreed to support capacity building in the nuclear sector with training, data insights and networking. The IAEA and IRENA agreed to cooperate on joint missions, training, data sharing and case studies to support energy planning and clean energy goals. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the IAEA agreed to cooperate on nuclear safety, decommissioning, environmental remediation and nuclear energy.
SMRs: A flexible, cost-effective option
At an event co-organized by the IAEA and the United States of America that focused on ways to speed up deployment of SMRs, speakers from the U.S. Government, Google, the South Korean steel manufacturer POSCO and the IAEA discussed infrastructure and regulatory hurdles that need to be overcome to enable faster rollout of SMRs. The event showcased new partnerships, including a deal between Google and Kairos Power to deploy 500 MW of SMR capacity by 2035, and emerging opportunities for financing.
SMRs offer a promising, cost-effective solution thanks to their modular design, opportunities for replication, flexibility and reduced construction time. SMRs can power everything from remote communities to large-scale grids, making them suitable for developing countries, energy-intensive industries, data centres and even commercial ships. The IAEA estimates that SMRs will comprise a quarter of new nuclear capacity in a high case scenario that sees overall nuclear capacity increasing by 2.5 times by 2050.
At COP29 this week, the US Government shared its plans for at least tripling US nuclear power capacity by mid-century by adding 200 gigawatts from new power plants including SMRs, uprating or expanding the output of existing reactors, and restarting reactors retired for economic reasons, subject to the appropriate regulatory approvals.
SMRs can be game-changers for sustainable power, meeting needs from district heating to AI data centers, while decarbonizing industries like steel and petrochemicals. As shown at @IAEAorg #COP29 panel on accelerating #SMRs to triple nuclear energy, demand is growing-and fast. pic.twitter.com/NbhOlecBZE
— Rafael MarianoGrossi (@rafaelmgrossi) November 13, 2024
Expanding nuclear power to new markets
According to the Sustainable Development Scenario of the International Energy Agency (IEA), nuclear power must significantly expand to new markets if climate goals are to be achieved. Thirty-one countries currently use nuclear power and around 30 so-called newcomer countries are either embarking on or considering its introduction, with several of them eyeing SMRs. Three newcomers-Bangladesh, Egypt and Türkiye-are already building their first nuclear power reactors.
Türkiye, which is building four large reactors, is facing rising energy demand. "That is why we cannot do anything without nuclear," said Abdullah Buğrahan Karaveli, Chairman of the Executive Board and President of the Turkish Energy, Nuclear and Mineral Research Agency (TENMAK), said at an event on tripling nuclear energy by 2050. "We plan to reach to 20 gigawatts of nuclear, a 4800 megawatt power plant is under construction and all four reactors will be in operation by 2028. We are actively exploring new technologies like SMRs."
