E-WEB-Goal-01-400.pngNuclear generation helps reduce poverty and stimulates economic growth

  • Nuclear generation provides affordable and reliable electricity supplies without greenhouse gas emissions or air pollution.
  • Investment in nuclear energy boosts economies and provides employment.

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Globally, more than 700 million people do not have access to electricity. Billions more have unreliable supplies.

A reliable, clean and affordable electricity supply is essential to enable people to rise out of poverty and improve their quality of life. It is also a prerequisite for achieving many of the other UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Alleviating poverty also means providing people with well-paid jobs and supporting economic growth, particularly in developing countries. The construction and operation of nuclear plants provides such employment opportunities, as well as stimulating investment in infrastructure and education, and having a strong multiplier effect on national economies.

The impacts of poverty are particularly acute in the least developed countries, but fuel poverty can be experienced by low-income households in even the most developed countries.

Nuclear generation costs are much less susceptible to fuel price volatility than fossil fuel generation costs, particularly gas. This can help mitigate the impacts of fossil fuel price spikes on energy prices, which disproportionately affect poorer households.

Strategies to decarbonize electricity supplies should also take account of the potential impacts of higher generation costs on those least able to pay. Extending the operation of existing reactors is one of the lowest-cost ways of producing low-carbon electricity.

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