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Amid Russian sanctions and China’s foothold over current uranium supply, how will the West secure the reserves it requires?
The devastating accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan in March 2011 triggered a global reassessment of nuclear power, radically reshaping and diminishing the industry, with reactors shut down and national bans brought in.
Yet, in what could be seen as an extreme volte-face, investment in the industry for the first time in many years is climbing. Driven in large part by decarbonisation targets meeting the reality of rising energy demand amid slow renewable energy roll out, the World Nuclear Association (WNA), perhaps unsurprisingly, is touting nuclear as the solution to securing future carbon-free electricity – but this time it is backed by financiers, countries and major companies such as Meta, Google and Amazon.
The trade body has set a target of tripling global nuclear energy capacity by 2050 in response to expected increased clean electricity demand from industry. The International Energy Agency projects that electricity consumption from data centres will more than double worldwide by 2030 to around 945 terawatt-hours (TWh), more than Japan’s consumption today.
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