Six more countries sign declaration to triple nuclear generation by 2050

Six additional countries signed a pledge to triple global nuclear generation capacity by 2050 at the UN's Climate Change Conference, COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy was originally signed Dec. 2 at COP28 in Dubai by 22 countries.

The six new signatories are El Salvador, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Nigeria, and Turkey, the World Nuclear Association said in a statement Nov. 13.

That brings to 31 the number of countries that have signed the declaration. Previous signatories included the US, Canada, Japan, France, the UK and the UAE.

At a COP29 event Nov. 13, Sama Bilbao y León, World Nuclear Association director general, welcomed the new signatories "to the Coalition of the Ambitious."

Bilbao y Leon noted: "Nuclear can now count on the world's biggest banks to back the growth of the nuclear industry. Nuclear has attracted the interest and investment of the world's largest and most advanced technology companies. And nuclear has ever-increasing support from the public..."

In September, support for the declaration was expressed by 14 "major global banks and financial institutions" during Climate Week in New York, WNA said in a statement Sept. 23. The financial groups included: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Ares Management, Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Brookfield, Citi, Credit Agricole CIB, Goldman Sachs, Guggenheim Securities, Morgan Stanley, Rothschild & Co., Segra Capital Management, and Societe Generale.

The declaration calls for a tripling of nuclear power by 2050 from a base year of 2020, requiring the addition of around 750 GW of capacity, considerably more than currently planned.

S&P Global Commodity Insights' analysts forecast global nuclear capacity will grow by 58% to 2050. Total installed nuclear capacity of around 375 GW in 2020 is forecast to rise to 458 GW in 2030, 549 GW in 2040 and 631 GW in 2050. By then, China and the US are expected to make up over half of the global total.

Signatories have committed to supporting development and construction of nuclear reactors, "such as small modular and other advanced reactors for power generation as well as wider industrial applications for decarbonization, such as for hydrogen or synthetic fuels production," the declaration said.

Participating countries will encourage the World Bank and other international and regional development banks to include nuclear energy in energy lending policies. The declaration recognized the importance of extending lifetimes of existing reactors and commits to support "responsible nations" looking to deploy new civil nuclear generation.

None of the six new signatory countries currently operate nuclear power plants. In Turkey, Russia is financing and building four reactors at Akkuyu, the country's first nuclear power project, with a total planned capacity of about 4.5 GW.

El Salvador has announced plans for a nuclear power program. In July a federal agency was established to develop and deploy nuclear power for electricity and heat generation, and in September it signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Atomic Energy Commission of Argentina. Kazakhstan is the world's largest uranium producer. Kenya and Nigeria have expressed interest in developing nuclear power for electricity generation and desalination.