Global nuclear power use may more than triple by 2060, projects IAEA chief Rafael Grossi

Key facts

• Rafael Grossi, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told the UN General Assembly that nuclear power use could more than triple by 2060, driven by electrification, AI-powered data centres and technology companies' demand for reliable, carbon-free power.
• In 2025, more than 400 operating reactors in over 30 countries produced 10 per cent of global electricity and a quarter of its low-carbon electricity.
• More than 60 new reactors are under construction and projections for future nuclear capacity have shifted dramatically upward.
• On Iran, whose nuclear sites were struck by the US before the US and Israel launched a war on February 28, Grossi said the technical work for a diplomatic agreement has been done and urged a return to the negotiating table so IAEA inspectors can return to Iran expeditiously.
• Grossi warned that North Korea's growing nuclear programme under Kim Jong Un operates without any IAEA oversight, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions banning nuclear weapons production.
• Grossi said the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, remains in a precarious position due to frequent power losses, limited back-up diesel supplies and military activity threatening the plant and its workers.
• The IAEA has made significant progress in clarifying outstanding questions on Syria's nuclear activities, after reporting in September that the Bashar Assad-era government, ousted in December 2024, was constructing a nuclear reactor configured to produce fissile material for possible use in nuclear weapons.