World Bank Lifts Ban on Funding Nuclear Energy in Boost To Industry
(Thursday June 12, 2025 @11:20AM (msmash)
from the meeting-rising-needs dept.)
- Reference: 0178017333
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/06/12/0947224/world-bank-lifts-ban-on-funding-nuclear-energy-in-boost-to-industry
- Source link:
The World Bank is lifting its decades-long ban on financing nuclear energy, in a policy shift aimed at accelerating development of the low-emissions technology to meet surging electricity demand in the developing world. From a report:
> In an email to staff on Wednesday, Ajay Banga, the World Bank president, said it would " [1]begin to re-enter the nuclear energy space "
>
> "We will support efforts to extend the life ofÂexisting reactors in countries that already have them, and help support grid upgrades andÂrelated infrastructure," the email said. The shift follows advocacy from the pro-nuclear Trump administration and a change of government in Germany, which previously opposed financing atomic energy due to domestic political opposition to the technology. It is part of a wider strategy aimed at tackling an expected doubling of electricity demand in the developing world by 2035. Meeting this demand would require annual investment in generation, grids and storage to rise from $280 billion today to $630 billion, Banga said in the memo seen by the Financial Times.
[1] https://www.ft.com/content/d80b68ec-3da8-42ea-82ee-4cab22b31a69
[2] https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/world-bank-end-ban-nuclear-energy-projects-still-debating-upstream-gas-2025-06-11/
> In an email to staff on Wednesday, Ajay Banga, the World Bank president, said it would " [1]begin to re-enter the nuclear energy space "
[2]non-paywalled source
in partnership with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog which works to prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons.>
> "We will support efforts to extend the life ofÂexisting reactors in countries that already have them, and help support grid upgrades andÂrelated infrastructure," the email said. The shift follows advocacy from the pro-nuclear Trump administration and a change of government in Germany, which previously opposed financing atomic energy due to domestic political opposition to the technology. It is part of a wider strategy aimed at tackling an expected doubling of electricity demand in the developing world by 2035. Meeting this demand would require annual investment in generation, grids and storage to rise from $280 billion today to $630 billion, Banga said in the memo seen by the Financial Times.
[1] https://www.ft.com/content/d80b68ec-3da8-42ea-82ee-4cab22b31a69
[2] https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/world-bank-end-ban-nuclear-energy-projects-still-debating-upstream-gas-2025-06-11/
"We banned low emission to help low emission!" (Score:2)
by Z80a ( 971949 )
Sounds exactly what people under the oil lobby would come up with.
Re: (Score:2)
by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) *
Yup, but now the AI lobby is stronger than the oil lobby.
I guess whichever the military needs more.
Orly? (Score:1)
by CEC-P ( 10248912 )
I had no idea this was a thing until now. But let me rewrite that headline for you: "Oil industry's corrupt bullshit funding ban on clean nuclear energy dropped because big tech wants gigawatts to run their AI bullshit before the bubble bursts"
Btw, huge Copilot exploit found yesterday lol.
Fund education, too. (Score:1)
by supabeast! ( 84658 )
We need NGOs to fund education about nuclear power. Much of the opposition to nuclear power is rooted in ignorance of how clean and safe it really is. If we can teach people the truth then there would be many more reactors built.
Re: (Score:2)
The just announced it is pissing more money away on a new one called Sizewell C, and there is some free money for development of dead-end SMR technology as well.
This seems to be a response to AI. Hopefully that bubble bursts soon, or at least people figure out how to make it efficient.
Re: (Score:2)
SMR is a waste, it only generates more nuclear waste and more parts have to be decommissioned.