Multilateral development banks (MDBs) must revise their “outdated and politicised views” of nuclear power or risk ceding political capital in the race to dominate the nuclear market to “autocratic actors” such as Russia and China, a fellow at the US-based Atlantic Council thinktank has said.

Juzel Lloyd of the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center wrote in an article that the world is entering a new age for nuclear energy, as developing nations like India, Argentina, Egypt, and Pakistan consider adding nuclear power to their energy mix to rapidly increase domestic energy access.

Lloyd said MDBs are in a position to enable this expansion of energy in their mission to help developing economies achieve economic growth and energy access, but the banks are hindering the use of nuclear power.

“Meanwhile, Russia and China, both nuclear technology export leaders, are filling the gap and gaining geopolitical influence,” Lloyd wrote.