Nuclear energy and advanced nuclear technologies should be a “critical part” of a net-zero energy economy, the secretary of energy said in Vienna this week at the U.N.’s big nuclear conference.
“[T]oday, we see that transitioning to net-zero represents a great economic opportunity: a global clean energy market that will grow to at least 23 trillion U.S. dollars by 2030,” Jennifer Granholm said in her Monday statement during the opening session of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) annual summit in Vienna, Austria. “And advanced nuclear energy is poised to play a critical part.”
Granholm said that the conversation around climate change has been wrongly centered around “a choice between prosperity or austerity.”
“We have the technology and policy solutions to sustainably develop zero-carbon nuclear energy … to strengthen nuclear and radiological safety and security… and to improve global health outcomes … all at the same time,” Granholm said, according to a DOE transcript of her prepared remarks.
The back end of the nuclear fuel cycle didn’t come up during Granholm’s speech, although the Joe Biden administration is eyeing around $20 million in appropriations for a federal interim storage site for the thousands of tons of spent nuclear fuel currently stranded at reactor sites nationwide.
The IAEA conference ran through Tuesday, after which Granholm headed off to Poland. Also present at this week’s conference: Nuclear Regulatory Commission chair Christopher Hanson, according to a Thursday Tweet from the agency.
