Discussions focused on the progress of the international declaration made at COP28 in Dubai in 2023—to triple global nuclear power capacity by 2050—and on the role of nuclear energy in accelerating the clean-energy transition. The number of signatories to the tripling declaration has now expanded to 33 countries, with Senegal and Rwanda joining last week. In addition, two more major financial institutions—STEFL and CIBC—have joined the 16 institutions that pledged to provide financing for new nuclear projects.
In the keynote address, Prof. ARIMA Jun (Project Professor, Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Tokyo) stated that against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, escalating tensions in the Middle East, intensifying climate change, and surging electricity prices, nuclear energy is being reevaluated as a realistic option capable of simultaneously ensuring energy security, decarbonization, and price stability. He added that Japan’s shift in the Strategic Energy Plan toward a “comprehensive approach” combining nuclear and renewables aligns with global trends.
WNA’s Senior Programme Lead for Climate, Jonathan Cobb, provided a preview of the World Nuclear Outlook 2025, released on November 14. He noted that global electricity demand will grow significantly due to population increases and rapid advances in AI and digitalization. He further reported that with lifetime extensions of existing reactors and the addition of units under construction or planned, global nuclear capacity could feasibly reach 1.2 TWe by 2050. However, he stressed that “achieving the tripling goal requires swift, coordinated action from governments, industry, financial institutions, and regulators,” and emphasized the need not only to expand power-generation capacity but also to extend nuclear’s use into industrial heat applications and off-grid systems, together with strengthening all stages of the fuel cycle—mining, conversion, enrichment, and fuel fabrication.
During the subsequent panel discussion, JAIF President & CEO MASUI Hideki highlighted the significance of Japan signing the tripling declaration: “It has provided a strong tailwind to Japan’s energy policy, supporting the shift from ‘reducing dependence on nuclear’ to ‘maximum utilization of nuclear.’” He added that as nuclear’s role becomes globally clearer, “momentum for nuclear deployment and international cooperation is growing, creating new expectations within Japanese industry for sustaining supply chains and expanding exports.”
On domestic developments, Masui explained that public support for nuclear energy in Japan “has been steadily recovering since the Fukushima Daiichi accident,” amid rising concerns over energy security, increased electricity prices, and renewed recognition of nuclear as a decarbonization technology. He also pointed out that in regions where reactors have restarted, suppressing electricity prices has become apparent, and that “structural changes surrounding nuclear energy are now underpinning Japan’s new energy policy.”
Answering a question on how Japan’s financial institutions, public-private partnerships, and international cooperation can contribute to accelerating investment across the entire nuclear value chain, Masui noted that Japan is reviewing its frameworks for financing and cost recovery for new nuclear construction. The liberalized electricity market has made long-term investments—from construction to decommissioning—difficult, but new government financial support and the long-term revenue guarantee scheme starting in 2024 are opening the path to new-build projects. He also stressed that the policy shift and Kansai Electric’s resumption of geological surveys indicate that new construction—halted since Fukushima—is becoming a realistic possibility once again. Masui highlighted JAIF’s Nuclear International Cooperation Center (JICC), which provides training and assistance to countries seeking to introduce nuclear energy, and concluded: “International cooperation that spans governments, industry, finance, and civil society is the key to delivering on the tripling declaration.”
From the floor, participants voiced the need for system-level improvements such as transmission-grid reinforcement, investment frameworks, and human-resource development to expand nuclear and other low-carbon power sources. While the pathway to tripling nuclear capacity is gradually taking shape, the next crucial phase is “moving from declaration to implementation.”
N4C Releases Position Paper at COP30
Timed with COP30, the “Nuclear for Climate (N4C)” coalition—comprising more than 150 nuclear-related organizations worldwide—released a new position paper during the conference.
The paper urges governments to explicitly position nuclear energy as a comprehensive climate-solution technology necessary to achieve the Paris Agreement’s 2030 goals and net-zero targets, and calls for accelerating investment-environment improvements, particularly to support sustainable growth in the Global South.
