Meeting IAEA’s 2023 nuclear projections of doubling the world’s nuclear power capacity by 2050 will require doubling investments in nuclear power to $100 billion U.S. dollars annually, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday.
Countries seeking to add nuclear energy to their arsenal need technical and financial expertise through deployment of nuclear energy and low emission technologies, as well as through multilateral development banks, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said during a visit with the World Bank Group Executive Board.
“While the private sector will need to increasingly contribute to financing, multilateral development banks such as the World Bank can advance sustainable development by assessing nuclear project bankability and contributing lending at affordable rates,” Director General of IAEA Rafael Grossi said in a press release by IAEA about the exchange.
IAEA said it “stands ready” to provide technical support to banks like the World Bank to enhance nuclear infrastructure development in countries wanting to expand that would include nuclear security, safety, and safeguards.
Grossi said financing global nuclear power would align multilateral development banks with the “new global consensus” forged at the UN Climate Change Conference last year.