The US and two dozen other countries have pledged to triple the world’s nuclear energy capacity by 2050. Launched last fall at the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP 28) in Dubai, the pledge is intended to help reach the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming to 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels.
But is such a large increase in nuclear energy production feasible? Skeptics say that building nuclear reactors is too slow and costly to effectively mitigate climate change. And they say that security, safety, and proliferation risks need to be assessed in the context of today’s geopolitics. Proponents say that nuclear energy is necessary in the climate change equation and that to wield influence in the nuclear arena, the US and other Western nations must be at the forefront of nuclear energy development and exports.
Kathryn Huff was assistant secretary in the US Department...
