WASHINGTON, DC –The Atlantic Council Global Energy Center has launched its Nuclear Energy and National Security Coalition (NENSC), led by co-chairs Ambassador Thomas Graham and Admiral Richard Mies (Ret.), leaders in nuclear energy policy. The Coalition, which includes former military leaders, senior diplomats, and national security experts, views nuclear energy as a pillar within the energy security, foreign policy, and economic priorities of the United States. NENSC will identify challenges and solutions to continued US nuclear power leadership.

“U.S. global leadership helps to ensure that nuclear technology is developed and operated safely, securely and exclusively for peaceful purposes,” said Ambassador Graham. “Because U.S. standards for nuclear security and nonproliferation are unmatched, the decline in U.S. market share effectively lowers global nonproliferation standards.”

Throughout the course of 2018, the Global Energy Center convened the Atlantic Council Task Force on US Nuclear Energy Leadership, culminating in the report entitled, US Nuclear Energy Leadership: Innovation and the Strategic Global Challenge, released on May 21^st, 2019. The report argues that US global leadership and engagement in nuclear power are vital to US national security and foreign policy interests and made recommendations along three broad lines: maintaining and expanding the domestic nuclear fleet; creating a conducive environment for new technologies; and encouraging and facilitating new technologies.

“Our nuclear Navy and significant parts of the Department of Energy benefit from a strong civil nuclear sector. Many of the companies that serve the civil nuclear sector also supply the nuclear Navy and major DOE programs,” said Admiral Mies (Ret.). “Moreover, the nuclear industry is an important career destination for military veterans.”

NENSC will bring wider attention to the report’s policy recommendations, continue the momentum generated by the report’s launch on the Hill, address other relevant policy issues, support the related work of like-minded organizations, and serve as a clearinghouse for information and analysis on the topic.

Even as nuclear provides 20 percent of total US electricity supply and nearly 60 percent of carbon-free electricity, nuclear power development in the United States has flatlined. If the United States does not address and overcome the challenges facing the industry at home, it will find itself ceding competitiveness abroad to countries that approach nuclear technology development and deployment more strategically.

The Atlantic Council Global Energy Center promotes energy security by working alongside government, industry, civil society, and public stakeholders to devise pragmatic solutions to the geopolitical, sustainability, and economic challenges of the changing global energy landscape.

If you would like to know more about the Global Energy Center or speak with a Global Energy Center expert about nuclear energy issues, please contact Press@AtlanticCouncil.org.