Nuclear Power Is Staging A Remarkable Comeback, by Tsvetana Paraskova

• As governments around the world struggle with a seemingly insurmountable energy crisis, policymakers are reconsidering nuclear energy as a possible solution.
• Natural gas prices continue to break record highs, making the clean and reliable nature of nuclear power increasingly interesting for governments.
• While the IEA has highlighted the importance of nuclear power in combatting climate change, increasing extreme weather events could actually undermine nuclear power.

Faced with an unprecedented energy crisis, governments in the West are rethinking their long-held positions on the role of nuclear power generation, setting the stage for what could be the biggest energy source ‘comeback’ story of recent times.

Support for nuclear has grown in recent months as policymakers see nuclear energy as an alternative to the most expensive gas countries have ever paid to import, and as a zero-emission electricity source that would help keep climate ambitions and targets alive.

Even Japan and Germany, which had vowed to reduce or phase out nuclear power as a source of electricity in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in 2011, are now considering using nuclear power for longer.

In the United States, the recently adopted Inflation Reduction Act extends tax credits and funding to nuclear power plants, while California is looking to keep its last operating nuclear power plant open beyond the planned closure deadline set for 2025.