Leaders of government and industry gathered for the Roadmaps to New Nuclear 2024 conference on 19-20 September in Paris. During two days of discussions, they addressed the key challenges to ramping up nuclear energy while boosting economic growth and energy security.
Roadmaps to New Nuclear 2024 was hosted by the NEA and Sweden’s Ministry of Climate and Enterprise and brought together energy ministers, CEOs and other leaders and experts to find concrete ways to achieve their net zero carbon emissions targets by rolling out new nuclear projects more quickly. Twenty-one countries represented at the event issued a statement highlighting their commitment to nuclear technology as a reliable low-carbon energy source and pledging to work together to fully unlock its potential.
“Recognising the urgency of the climate crisis and the need for enhanced energy security, we underscore the strategic importance of nuclear energy in achieving a clean, sustainable, climate-neutral future and reacknowledge the goal to triple nuclear energy capacity globally by 2050,” the ministers said in their communiqué released after the conference. “We will co-operate to fully unlock the potential of nuclear energy by taking measures that enable, where relevant, lifetime extension of existing reactors, construction of new nuclear capacities and early deployment of SMRs.”
Joint statements were also issued during the conference by organisations representing the global nuclear industry and by the NEA Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA), which is comprised of nuclear safety regulatory leaders from NEA member countries. The regulators called for further strengthening co-operation among regulatory authorities “to establish the framework that enables the peaceful use of nuclear energy more efficiently and effectively while safeguarding the safety of people and protecting the environment”.
The goal of tripling global nuclear energy capacity by 2050 had been set during the 2023 edition of the Roadmaps conference and was backed up by a global pledge by 25 countries at the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Dubai.
The ministers stressed their countries will need to train a new and diverse generation of professionals and strengthen the supply chains needed for new technologies such as small modular reactors and their fuels. The financing of new nuclear build was also a key topic at the Paris conference, with participants focusing on models that leverage the advantages of both the public and private sector. Ministers agreed to work together on seeking to unblock climate financing by involving, where relevant, international financial institutions and multilateral development banks.
Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Energy, Business and Industry Ebba Busch highlighted how Sweden aims to add 2.5 GW of new nuclear power by 2035, its most intense schedule of new nuclear build in decades. During the press conference on 19 September, she put it simply: "Sweden is back.”
William D. Magwood, IV, Director-General of the Nuclear Energy Agency, noted that the rapid increase in electricity demand makes it all the more urgent to address climate change and energy security. “This is exactly the right time to deal with these issues. We have to take action now.”
The next edition of the Roadmaps to New Nuclear will be co-chaired by the Government of Korea in 2025. The Roadmaps to New Nuclear conference is part of a wider initiative by the NEA to help its member countries achieve their goals of increasing nuclear energy capacity through co-operation and analysis of aspects including financing, workforce capacity, supply chains and safety and waste management.
