The six organisations are: the Canadian Nuclear Association, the Japan Atomic Industry Forum, the US Nuclear Energy Institute, the UK Nuclear Industry Association, Brussels-based Nucleareurope, and the World Nuclear Association.
A joint statement said that the combination of an increasingly urgent climate crisis and volatile energy prices, intensified by the war in Ukraine, has shown the “key strengths” of nuclear technologies.
“Nuclear energy is both critical to meeting global environmental sustainability commitments and a key asset for global energy security," the statement said.
Nuclear energy is an accessible, affordable, clean and reliable energy source for countries seeking to move away fossil fuels and achieve a just clean energy transition, the six organisations pointed out in the appeal to G7 leaders.
The nuclear industry groups called on G7 leaders to:
- To incentivise the lifetime extensions of existing nuclear power plants for as much as possible and supporting the restart of other operating reactors;
- help include nuclear energy in national and international green financing policy frameworks;
- commit on political and legal level to a greater share of nuclear power in countries’ future energy mixes;
- support new nuclear technologies, including small modular reactors and other advanced reactors.
The G7 summit in Schloss Elmau, hosted by the German presidency, is scheduled to start on 26 June.
“The G7 will send a clear signal for increased climate protection, enhanced international cooperation and greater global solidarity,” German chancellor Olaf Scholz told journalists earlier this week.
The German G7 presidency has chosen “progress towards an equitable world” as its programme theme, including major goals like fostering sustainability, economic stability, and clean transformation.
Germany is also a staunch opponent to nuclear energy in Europe, with its last commercial reactors bound to be shuttered at the end of the year, a position which has been a cause of tensions around the EU’s energy policies.
