Investment of $4.2bn (€3.8bn) in the global nuclear energy supply chain will need to be supplemented by private capital, but is a meaningful and constructive step towards reestablishing energy security that was jeopardised by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Daniel Poneman, the former chief executive of Centrus Energy Corp, a US nuclear fuel enrichment company, told NucNet.

Poneman, a director of the Atlantic Council thinktank, said the announcement in December by leaders from the US, Canada, France, Japan and the UK – a group of G7 nations informally known as the Sapporo 5 – was a boost for the industry, but warned that more fuel would be needed to power advanced reactors that remain under development.