Climate cash should also go to nuclear, says UN atomic chief Baku, Nov 12 (AFP) Nov 12, 2024 The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said Tuesday that atomic power should also be allowed to tap into climate change funds. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said he wanted countries from Kenya to Malaysia to go for nuclear, while denying he was pushing for an "irresponsible race" towards civil atomic power.
We need to give ourselves the means to make things happen. The dialogue with international financial institutions has started in a very positive way. I was at the World Bank this summer, and tomorrow we will meet with the EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), as well as the Development Bank of Latin America. Various financing bodies are beginning to see that markets are pushing in this direction. We are obviously not a commercial lobby (but) a regulatory agency for everything related to nuclear safety, security, and non-proliferation. We are here to provide assurances and to oversee projects."
Others, like those in Eastern Europe, could benefit from European funding and for whom energy security is crucial in reducing dependency on certain suppliers. So it depends on the model. In Asia, we have Malaysia, the Philippines... countries that genuinely need this."
We have development models. The United Arab Emirates is a very, very interesting case. It's a country with financial resources but that initially had absolutely no infrastructure, nuclear regulations etc. We have established programmes for newcomers to guide them step-by-step, through 19 chapters, until they establish nuclear capability." That's what we have done. We are not going crazy, in an irresponsible race toward civil nuclear power. But there are a lot of things we can do." |
|
All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.
|