Advancing Global Deployment of Nuclear Power with Advanced Reactors and New Regulatory Paradigms

Panelists will include representatives of The Pennsylvania State University's Post-Industrial and Midwest Nuclear Alliance initiative. Addressing global warming and global energy poverty are inextricably tied because developing energy infrastructure with fossil options exacerbates climate change. The United Nations (UN) agreement on a "Framework Convention on Climate Change" identified the need for worldwide nuclear power increase from 400 GW to 1000 GW by 2050, with up to 30% of this generation deployed in developing countries. For context, meeting the UN's recommended nuclear power increase, requires approximately five hundred 300Mwe nuclear plants to be deployed across Africa alone. Responsible deployment and operation of nuclear power requires an assurance that safety and security requirements are well established and operationalized. These assurances have historically been provided in developed nations by well-established institutions and robust regulatory frameworks. However, these approaches were initially developed in the 1960s and 70s, based on the risks that were relevant to existing large light water reactors. Considering 1) advanced reactors and current enabling technologies mitigate and also make certain risks no longer credible, and 2) emerging nations may lack these types of institutions and frameworks, it is imperative that new paradigms are developed to enable the safe and secure deployment of nuclear power in developing countries based on a recognition of the technology to the extent that they ameliorate the capability limitations. This panel will explore the historical reasons why nuclear power has not been more widely deployed in developing countries through the lens of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Diversity of markets, Equity in terms of vulnerability to climate change, and Inclusion in terms of participation and benefitting from nuclear power. It will also address how these historical challenges may now be addressed with advanced reactor technology and also the need for increased and meaningful engagement.