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Nations Sign Historic Climate Agreement

Watch Video Interview with ANS President

On December 12, 196 governments, representing nearly every country agreed to the most aggressive international plan to fight climate change in decades.

ANS President Eugene S. Grecheck and Director of Communications and Outreach Tari Marshall attended the Paris climate conference (COP21) as part of the Nuclear for Climate coalition to ensure that nuclear was not excluded from the climate solutions.

“Our participation in COP21 helped create greater visibility for nuclear than at any previous COP, according to reports from those who attended the previous UNFCCC meetings,” Grecheck noted. “It also provided us with the opportunity to meet with nations like Morocco that are beginning new nuclear energy development, and to collaborate with key nuclear supporters such as researcher Ben Heard from Australia and Kirsty Gogan from Energy for Humanity.”

Grecheck also participated on a panel organized by the USDOE, which included very positive nuclear remarks by Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and presidential science advisor John Holdren, as well as industry leaders representing innovative nuclear technologies: NuScale, X-energy, and Advanced Reactor Concepts.

The new agreement gives countries the goal to limit global warming to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial levels. It also acknowledges the concerns of small island states whose survival is at stake by saying countries should "pursue efforts" to keep temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).

View the full Nuclear for Climate interview with President Grecheck by clicking here.

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