“Global nuclear capacity is set to triple by 2050 driven by the commitment made by around thirty states in 2023”.
Alexis Bienvenu (LFDE) •
The atom explodes: the index formed by values linked to nuclear energy, the MarketVector Global Uranium and Nuclear Energy Infrastructure, records a year-on-year increase of 123% in dollars and has doubled over the last three years. The world is hungry for energy, especially since artificial intelligence consumes vast amounts of gigawatt-hours and unsustainably drives up the price of electricity across the Atlantic. However, nuclear energy effectively powers servers: it is decarbonised, controllable, predictable, and unaffected by the geopolitical vicissitudes of oil-producing countries. That is why global nuclear capacity is set to triple by 2050, driven by the commitment made by around thirty states in 2023. Nevertheless, this renaissance faces significant challenges: construction timelines measured in decades, often exacerbated by disproportionate delays, colossal investments, as well as industrial, regulatory, and reputational risks. Additionally, there is a shortage of skilled labour and extreme sensitivity of public opinion. Once operational, facilities still have to contend with the spectre of accidents, with consequences that often last for generations, the threat of cyber-attacks, the cost of decommissioning, and a thorny issue that the world has yet to resolve: the final storage of radioactive waste.
To provide an answer, the industry is reorganising with the support of public authorities, opening the door to historic opportunities. In July 2024, before Trump's return, the US passed the ADVANCE Act (Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy), which facilitates the deployment of next-generation reactors, as well as compact and modular units, known as SMRs (Small Modular Reactors). These last ones are easier to construct by AI giants in their desperate search for readily available energy. Europe has experienced a similar revolution: in 2022, nuclear energy was embedded within "green" investments according to the European taxonomy. This shift was evident in Berlin's pragmatism, which, although it rejected producing nuclear energy on its soil, ceased to oppose it at the community level in exchange for concessions on its natural gas consumption. Asia is not lagging behind. In India, a law passed in 2025 opens up nuclear energy to private capital for the first time, including foreign investment. China, which is about to become the world leader in nuclear generation, has just enacted a law to protect new pharaonic investments in nuclear energy, allowing it to officially aspire to carbon neutrality by 2060 and, very conveniently, to power its data centres. Initiatives in the same direction are emerging in Korea and even in Japan, where, however, nuclear energy revives painful memories of Fukushima.
The private sector is supporting this movement. Microsoft has signed an agreement to reactivate a symbol: the Three Mile Island plant, closed in 2019 and the site of a historic accident in 1979. Meta has also committed to extending the operational life of a plant by 20 years, while Google, Oracle, and OpenAI are betting on SMR-type projects. This interest does not necessarily stifle renewable energies, except perhaps momentarily in the US, but certainly not in China. Faster to install, cheaper, and with lower risks, these energy sources offer clear advantages but remain difficult to manage. However, in the race for the volt, all solutions are welcome. ♦