In a roundtable discussion, global civil society leaders called for the inclusion of nuclear in pursuit of clean energy options.

“In this critical decade we must expand the suite of clean energy options to include nuclear products that are cost competitive, easier to buy, easier to deliver, present lower risk to investors and can meet a broad range of market applications,” civil society leaders declared in a document presented to the governments of the UK and Canada.

The presentation took place at a civil society roundtable event in London on 5 March. The roundtable concluded that as the second largest source of clean energy, nuclear should be represented accordingly during the upcoming COP26 meeting in Glasgow.

Read more about nuclear

Signatories included world-renowned climate scientist James Hansen, President of African Women in Energy and Power, Bertha Dlamini, National Secretary of Prospect Union, Alan Leighton, former chairman of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee Tim Yeo, and climate author Mark Lynas among 31 civil society leaders from nine countries.

Nuclear applications



The declaration was then presented to Shawn Tupper of Natural Resources Canada and Christopher Bowbrick of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.

The declaration called on them to build on the collaborative spirit of the Canada-UK Nuclear Energy Cooperation Action Plan signed on 4th March and engage with still more countries to work together to realise the benefits of advanced reactors.

In addition to the supply of electricity, which is only one fifth of energy consumption, advanced reactors have the potential to:

supply heat to homes, businesses and industrial processes;

to produce hydrogen and synthetic fuels that will support a transition in transport and the difficult sectors of aviation and shipping;

to desalinate seawater in regions suffering water scarcity;

to support access to modern energy services in remote and developing communities;

as well as to repower the existing global fleet of coal plants as part of a just transition

A copy of the Civil Society Declaration Calling for a Critical Decade of Clean Energy Collaboration is available here.