FROM THE EDITOR
Technical advances driving nuclear forward
With investment into nuclear set to reach new heights how can the industry sustain the advances that are driving new projects forward and build on progress?
nvestment flows into nuclear power are accelerating as governments, utilities, and private investors reassess the technology’s role in meeting decarbonisation, reliability, and energy-security objectives. This is the conclusion of a new report from NEi parent company GlobalData, which estimates that new investment in nuclear power will reach
$41.8bn by 2030 at a compound annual growth rate of 8% between 2025 and 2030. This compares favourably with nuclear investment of $27.9bn that the document reports for 2024. The analysis, ‘Nuclear Power: Strategic Intelligence’
notes that technical innovations such as SMRs and advanced reactors are driving investment by catalysing a more robust pipeline of projects worldwide. This, it says, signals a maturation of markets and financing structures that support a sustained expansion of nuclear capacity from large gigawatt-class plants to smaller modular deployments. Coupled with market drivers, the report also identifies renewed public-sector commitment to nuclear development in the form of direct financing, loan guarantees and contract-for-difference schemes. Meanwhile, private capital is also becoming more willing to underwrite nuclear ventures, which it says is being drawn by stable long-term revenue profiles, rising carbon-pricing signals, and the benefits associated with portfolio diversification. At the same
time, moves to streamline permitting have reduced the perceived sovereign and offtake risks that previously deterred large-scale projects. The report also picks up on venture financing, which it says is gathering traction, as evidenced by an increasing number of deals and the amounts being raised. In particular, companies focusing on next-generation nuclear technologies, such as fusion and advanced small modular reactors, are attracting considerable venture capital. This trend, says the report, reflects a broader shift towards innovative approaches in the nuclear industry. Indeed, it is largely this technological innovation that is unlocking new investment pathways. The report highlights small modular reactors and advanced reactor concepts which promise lower upfront capital intensity, shorter construction times, and enhanced safety features, which are making nuclear projects more bankable and attractive to a broader investor base. Certainly, SMR deployment is anticipated to rapidly expand in the coming years as nations look to diversify their energy portfolios, decarbonise their electricity sector, bolster energy security and electrify transport and industry. However, while advanced and smaller reactors
are currently engendering this shift in investment perception they also hold key lessons for the larger GW-scale units that will actually form the backbone of the future nuclear fleet. Ultimately, energy investors are perhaps less
interested in the physics of a power plant than the economics. They are simply looking for a return. In the power sector that return can only be achieved if assets are constructed on time, to budget and offer adequate long-term performance at a competitive price and within a stable political and economic framework. Nuclear already delivers vast volumes of low-cost and clean energy for many decades. Now that new technologies are set to demonstrate that nuclear projects can also be built on time and to budget, developers of larger reactors must take note. To build on the current and future projections for investment growth the whole industry must truly deliver. It’s the future of the global energy landscape. ■
David Appleyard
www.neimagazine.com | January 2026 | 3
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