I. INTRODUCTION
Many States are increasingly turning to nuclear energy as a power source. There are plenty of good reasons why: the promise of low greenhouse gas emissions; reliable energy supply; and long-term fuel availability. 2024 saw the world embrace nuclear energy on a larger scale. In June 2024, the Bill Gates-funded company TerraPower broke ground in Wyoming for a new next-generation nuclear power plant, in which Gates himself had invested US$1 billion;1 and in October 2024, both Google2 and Amazon3 announced that they had signed the world's first corporate agreements to purchase small modular reactors to power their data centres. In Asia, China approved eleven new nuclear reactors across five sites in August 2024;4 South Korea approved two new nuclear reactors in September 2024;5 and various Southeast Asian States expressed renewed interest in nuclear energy despite the current absence of any large-scale nuclear power plants in that region.6
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Originally published by Indian Review of International Arbitration.
Footnotes
1. O. Manuel & S. Inskeep, Bill Gates Is Going Nuclear: How His Latest Project Could Power U.S. Homes and AI, NPR (June 14, 2024), https://www.npr.org/2024/06/14/nx-s1-5002007/bill-gates-nuclear-power-artificial-intelligence.
2. M. Terrell, New Nuclear Clean Energy Agreement with Kairos Power, Google Blog (Oct. 20, 2024), https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/sustainability/google-kairos-power-nuclear-energy-agreement/.
3. Amazon, Amazon Signs Agreements for Innovative Nuclear Energy Projects to Address Growing Energy Demands, About Amazon (Oct. 20, 2024), https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/sustainability/amazon-nuclear-small-modular-reactor-net-carbon-zero.
4. World Nuclear News, China Approves 11 New Reactors (Aug. 21, 2024), https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/china-approves-11-new-reactors.
5. Time, In New Nuclear Push, South Korea Revives Plans to Build Two Reactors (Sept. 12, 2024), https://time.com/7020645/south-korea-nuclear-reactors/.
6. See Recessary, Small Modular Reactors Gain Traction in Southeast Asia to Cut Emissions (May 21, 2024), https://www.recessary.com/en/news/asean-market/small-modular-reactors-gain-traction-in-southeast-asia-cut-emissions; Channel News Asia, As Interest in Nuclear Energy Hots Up, Southeast Asia Countries Are Closely Watching Each Other's Moves (Oct. 4, 2024), https://www.channelnewsasia.com/today/big-read/nuclear-energy-interest-southeast-asia-4652231.
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