Nuclear progress, but not much else, from COP29

December 3, 2024, 12:00PMNuclear News
ANS’s COP29 Week 1 delegation were, from left, Gale Hauck, Shirly Rodriguez, Lisa Marshall, and Seth Grae, pictured here with WNA director general Sama Bilbao y León (center). (Photo: Seth Grae)

COP29 was good for nuclear energy, but not so good for anything else.

That was one of Seth Grae’s takeaways from this year’s Conference of the Parties—or, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)—held for two weeks in November in Baku, Azerbaijan. Grae, chief executive of Lightbridge Corporation and chair of the American Nuclear Society’s International Council, attended with four other ANS delegates: ANS President Lisa Marshall, Gale Hauck, Shirly Rodriguez, and Andrew Smith.

U.S. unveils road map to triple nuclear capacity by 2050

November 13, 2024, 9:30AMNuclear News

As the United Nations’ COP29 climate summit kicked off this week, President Biden’s administration laid out plans to add 200 GW of nuclear power in the next 25 years through a combination of new reactor deployment, plant restarts, and upgrades at existing sites.

The added nuclear would triple the nation’s current capacity, which stands at around 100 GW.

The new U.S. road mapSafely and Responsibly Expanding U.S. Nuclear Energy: Deployment Targets and a Framework for Action—calls the deployment goals “ambitious but achievable,” including a short-term plan to jumpstart the domestic industry, adding 35 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2035.