Viewpoint: The key takeaways from World Nuclear Symposium

Friday, 13 September 2024

Last week was our annual World Nuclear Symposium. It is the premier event for bringing together the nuclear industry from across the globe, as well as welcoming those from outside the sector. We were thrilled to welcome so many familiar and new faces to London, to reflect on the remarkable achievements of the past year and look forward to the exciting opportunities that lie ahead.

This year saw a record 800-plus delegates attend, including the growing number of delegates now attending World Nuclear Symposium, and other nuclear conferences, from outside the nuclear industry. They are curious, they are engaged, they seriously want nuclear energy for its benefits - clean, reliable, secure, affordable energy. For the socio-economic development, the jobs, the ability to decarbonise the entire economy. We have known the potential for years, and now they are seeing it too, at a crucial moment for nuclear.

The theme this year - Turning Momentum into Energy - highlighted the momentum we are seeing for nuclear in the policy space, in aspirations, commitments, and the growing number of countries and other industries interested in what nuclear can do for them is significant. We need to recognise this opportunity, and act upon it. Not just for us, but for a better world.

The challenge I put to the industry is: How can the nuclear industry turn this policy momentum into the production of energy? Recognising the urgency of the global energy landscape, I encouraged delegates to think globally, collaborate and come together to find solutions, to deliver the full potential of nuclear energy.

Net Zero Nuclear

Last year was pivotal for the nuclear industry. It was at World Nuclear Symposium 2023 that we launched the Net Zero Nuclear initiative, and at COP28, we gained momentum. Twenty-five countries signed the Declaration to Triple Nuclear, and more than 120 nuclear energy and technology companies signed the Industry Pledge to at least triple global nuclear energy capacity by 2050. Then the global stocktake agreed upon by 199 countries recognised nuclear as a technology to be accelerated.

The COP28 pledges highlighted the commitment of both governments and the nuclear industry to work together to turn aspiration into results. Since then, the powerful commitment in support of nuclear has been repeated and reinforced by the G7, and at the IAEA Nuclear Energy Summit in Brussels. It is hugely encouraging that countries that signed the declaration at COP have repeated that commitment in other forums since.

From a policy point of view, nuclear is at its strongest moment for a generation. But we cannot pause, hesitate or take it for granted. We now need to continue working with supportive governments to put their policy commitments into practice and encourage others to sign up.

We need to reach beyond our traditional boundaries to forge new alliances with sectors essential to expanding nuclear and enabling us to reach our potential. The financial community of course, but also those in the energy sector, and the tech sector. With those partners, we should seize with collective urgency the need for solutions and action. That is what this year’s Symposium was all about. That requires a shared outlook. Even when we compete within the nuclear sector, we need to be competitors who also collaborate, competimates, safe in the knowledge that the prize is big enough to accommodate many winners.

Over the next 18 months leading up to COP30 in Brazil, we are planning a programme of high profile Net Zero Nuclear activity across the globe to promote and strengthen the shared commitment of government and industry. Our first stop is New York Climate Week. On 23 September, at the Rainbow Room in the Rockefeller Centre, Net Zero Nuclear will bring together global leaders, leaders from the finance community and the nuclear industry to send a clear signal that nuclear is an essential technology for the clean energy transition.

We have a range of partnership opportunities available. All of the activity we are developing will position your company and your brand at the heart of Net Zero Nuclear’s  activity in the rest of 2024, and throughout 2025, including at COP29 and at COP30. We simply cannot do it without your support.  

Reflecting on Symposium 

The Symposium started with such excitement, with several high profile nuclear energy announcements:

• ENEC confirming that UAE’s Nuclear Power Plant Barakah unit 4 had entered commercial operation, thus completing its building programme. The full-fleet operations will enable the generation of up to 25% of the UAE’s electricity demand. 

• Orano announcing the selection of Oak Ridge, Tennessee as  a preferred site to build a multi-billion-dollar U.S. uranium enrichment plant. 

• Westinghouse launching its Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) System Hive to deliver custom GenAI solutions  for its global customer base. 

We are so happy to showcase our industry at Symposium, so thank you for bringing your good news. This is what this industry is all about, generating energy from nuclear to enrich the lives of people and create a better world.

Looking back at the programme, we heard governments from across the world speaking about their plans, then we heard from the nuclear sector - what do we need from the fuel side to meet our ambitions to triple capacity? We’re seeing expansion of activities and new fuel services. We had extensive discussion about supply chains and project delivery, building up the workforce and innovation supporting expansion of the supply chain. There was frank discussion of industry setting the right expectations and taking responsibility for delivery - and together through international collaboration we can achieve that delivery. 

The finance community said it now looked at nuclear no differently to any other large-scale infrastructure project - in the past it was very common to have an exclusionary policy around nuclear energy. But that is changing, and of course we’ll hear more about that in New York Climate Week later this month. 

The end users panel gave us a look into the scale of decarbonisation required, but also the sense of urgency. We have intensive energy users that want and need clean, reliable, affordable energy now and whose needs are going to double or more in the coming years - there is a huge opportunity for nuclear there.

The Time is Now

The industry is at a pivotal moment, we have seen such momentum grow over these past few years. We are seeing a growing number of projects, growing interest from a range of suitors - we could not ask for a better opportunity as an industry. But it has always been bigger than just us as an industry - we fit into a wider world that needs clean, secure and affordable energy for the entire economy. I compared the scenario with that of a dance floor, where everyone is milling round the edges, waiting for someone else to go first, or for the right song to come on. But if we all join in together and take the chance to dance then it will be much easier. The time is now - for us to go out and deliver that future we all believe in and make it a reality.

We also would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all the delegates for participating so actively and all our sponsors, including Westinghouse, sponsors of the Welcome Reception, and Urenco, who sponsored the Gala Dinner.

It is clear there is a busy year ahead and much work to be done but we are already looking forward to an even bigger event next September as we look to celebrate together the landmark achievement of 50 years of World Nuclear Symposium.