In a public conference taking place in Vienna concurrent with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 62nd General Conference, Agneta Rising, the head of the World Nuclear Association, challenged the United Nations and the nuclear power industry to counter the threat of climate change with nuclear power.
Rising told the assemblage “I want more action and I want nuclear energy to be part of the solution.” She also said that the world’s energy could sector could reach a no-carbon goal if it were to embrace nuclear power with the same enthusiasm as Sweden or France.
”If the world was as fast to deploy nuclear power as Sweden was, we would reach decarbonised electricity in the word by 2040. If we were as fast as France, it would be 2050.”
She also pointed to Germany as an example of the world’s retreat from its climate change goals. “If we would do so as Germany is doing, it would go very slowly and plateau because they have not replaced fossil fuels with renewables but replaced nuclear with renewables,” said Rising, quoted by the World Nuclear News.
Rising’s remarks came at an address for the Scientific Forum, also holding a conference in Vienna, where the UN’s IAEA has its headquarters.
“We know the things we need to do, but we are still talking and not taking action,” she said, noting that she could not envision a clean-energy future without nuclear power. Frustrated by the lack of forward action, Rising said, “I am losing patience.”