Nine nuclear industry associations issued a joint statement at the 2026 Roadmaps to New Nuclear conference in Paris, France, reaffirming their commitment to advancing the peaceful use of nuclear technology amid shifting geopolitical uncertainty and growing energy security concerns. The event was convened by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and co-hosted by the United States Department of Energy (DOE).
The statement by the industry groups called on governments to enable nuclear growth through specific financial, regulatory, and operational steps. It states that the industry remains dedicated to:
- Safe operations: continuing the safe and efficient operation of existing nuclear facilities to maintain a reliable base of heat and electricity.
- Economic and clean growth: expanding clean nuclear infrastructure to strengthen industrial competitiveness, ensure energy independence, and help countries hit their climate change targets.
To turn these goals into reality, the groups urged governments to take action by supporting the long-term operation of existing plants, building out robust and collaborative supply chains, standardising reactor designs to reduce costs, and backing investments across all technologies – including large-scale builds, small modular reactors (SMRs), and microreactors.
The statement said: “We encourage governments to take steps that enable greater use of nuclear energy including through nuclear plant life extensions, capacity uprates, restarts of nuclear plants, and deployment of new nuclear energy facilities in support of their economic, energy security and environmental objectives.”
Governments need to take action to: pursue attribute-based, consistent long-term energy policies; safeguard energy security and resilience; facilitate access to finance; strengthen international regulatory cooperation; strengthen resilient and trusted nuclear supply chains; and build skills, industrial capability and innovation.
The statement concludes: “Nuclear energy can make an important and unique contribution to energy security, reliability, economic competitiveness, industrial capability and environmental performance. The nuclear industry therefore supports an attribute-based, predictable and durable policy environment in which nuclear energy can compete fairly and be valued for its full contribution to the energy system and wider economy. International cooperation should strengthen regulatory efficiency, access to finance, skills, innovation and resilient supply chains, enabling countries to deploy the nuclear technologies that best support their national priorities.”
The statement was signed by the leadership of: Canadian Nuclear Association (CNA); EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute); GIFEN (French Nuclear Energy Industry Association); Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF); Korean Atomic Industrial Forum (KAIF); Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI); Nuclear Industry Association (NIA); nucleareurope; and World Nuclear Association (WNA).
Addressing the opening session of the 2026 Roadmaps conference, Mathias Cormann, Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said: “Today we are at the start of a nuclear resurgence. Almost 80 GW of new nuclear capacity is under construction across 15 countries, including emerging economies, from Egypt to Türkiye. That is equal to a fifth of today’s global capacity.”
He added: “In the United States, five new advanced reactors reached criticality this summer alone and the United States aims to quadruple its nuclear capacity by 2050 and 38 countries now support tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050. This new commitment to nuclear power comes not a moment too soon. The disruption in the Strait of Hormuz – a chokepoint for a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade – and the war in Ukraine have both shown why we need stronger energy security and a diverse energy mix … but this is not just about energy security. It is also about growing energy needs. Electricity demand in advanced economies is rising again after nearly 15 years of stagnation.”
In a press conference during the event, NEA Director-General William Magwood said: “The world has changed. The world has turned to nuclear energy as a big part of the solution to the energy security challenge of the future, and now we are moving from discussion and planning into implementation – that’s really the phase we are moving into now. There are challenges, but we are here now to discuss them and face them and to deal with them as quickly as possible so we can turn these ambitions to scale. The fuel for this is going to be important analysis and data, a common understanding about what it will take to bring nuclear to scale around the world.”
