The world is seeing a “return to realism” on nuclear energy as more countries embrace its baseload capacity in a quest for electrification and decarbonisation, International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Rafael Grossi told the Raisina Dialogue, India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and economics.

Grossi told the event that the need for baseload energy is “very clear” and pointed to what he called “a realisation” of the importance of nuclear. He said this was evident at the UN’s Cop28 climate conference in Dubai, when in the final document there was “a very unexpected” declaration that nuclear energy must be accelerated alongside renewables.

He said this declaration was from every country, not just nuclear countries.

“The debate on energy transcends the energy specific realm by going into energy security and other areas,” Grossi said, when asked about the weaponisation of energy in recent years.