World Bank funds nuclear projects
Posted: 30th August 2025
World Bank to Dole out money to Nukes
As a growing number of countries look to strengthen their domestic energy production, meet baseload power generation needs, and manage low-carbon climate goals, they’re increasingly looking to nuclear—and some previous skeptics are looking with them. On June 11th, the World Bank Group (WBG) announced an end to its longstanding ban on funding nuclear power projects. The ban had only been in place formally since 2013, but the last and only time the WBG funded a nuclear power project was 1959—a $40 million loan to build a nuclear power plant in Italy. Two weeks after the ban was dropped, the group’s President Ajay Banga signed an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), committing to support countries that seek to include nuclear energy as part of their development strategies. The policy change builds on similar commitments from the 2023 climate negotiations in Dubai to triple global nuclear capacity, private financial industry pledges of capital for nuclear energy investments, and bipartisan support for nuclear in Washington, D.C.
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 28th Aug 2025