Remarks by Under Secretary Marisa Lago at USTDA Civil Nuclear Energy Workshop
Knoxville, Tennessee
October 8, 2024
As Prepared for Delivery
Good morning, everyone. Special thanks to my sister U.S. government agency — USTDA — for organizing such a substantive workshop this week. Thanks also to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, not only for supporting this workshop, but also for your decades-long leadership in developing innovative ways to power our planet’s future.
I’m a STEM girl at heart, having started my academic career studying physics more than two decades before STEM became a widely used acronym. So I was especially excited to tour Oak Ridge earlier this morning, seeing firsthand why it’s a leading R&D hub for advanced manufacturing. And, given Oak Ridge’s extensive R&D in civil nuclear energy, as well as efforts to commercialize the next generation of reactors, your team’s expertise and contributions to this week’s workshop are invaluable.
I’m so pleased to be here representing the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, or ITA for short. At ITA, I’m privileged to lead a first-rate team of over 2,300 trade and business experts. They’re spread across over 80 countries and 100 U.S. locations. ITA’s bread and butter is promoting U.S. exports and cutting-edge technologies, including many of the innovations in civil nuclear energy that we’re discussing this week. Among the many sectors that make up the dynamic U.S. economy, ITA has been laser-focused these past several years on elevating clean energy technologies, which are integral to accelerating the urgently needed global climate transition.
That brings me to why we’re here today: to double down on transatlantic cooperation on civil nuclear energy. Doing so advances both the global clean energy transition and, equally importantly, energy security — an integral dimension of each of our country’s national security. And, from a business perspective, expanding these transatlantic partnerships generates billions of dollars worth of opportunities and thousands of jobs for our respective countries’ businesses, workers, communities and economies.
That’s why the United States strongly supports the deployment of civil nuclear energy, both domestically and internationally. Here in the United States, civil nuclear energy is our largest source of clean energy, accounting for about half of our country’s carbon-free energy. Meanwhile, across the European Union, nuclear is also the largest source of clean energy, accounting for about a third of the region’s carbon-free energy.
But, as the global climate crisis continues to intensify, we must make even more progress.
Last December, I led the largest-ever delegation from the International Trade Administration to COP 28. We went to COP because tackling climate change is the right thing, the ethical thing to do. But, we also went because we see the potential of the clean energy transition to create quality jobs and tremendous economic development. That’s why, at COP 28, I was pleased to see the growing recognition of civil nuclear energy’s role in achieving global climate commitments, which included the United States joining 24 countries — including some European countries — in a pledge to triple nuclear energy capacity from 2020 to 2050.
To accomplish this goal, we need to further deepen cooperation across like-minded governments and industry, especially as competition with state-owned enterprises for new civil nuclear projects has grown. This is a special concern when these state-owned enterprises come from countries that don’t share our commitment to adhering to high-quality environmental standards and respecting human rights, including labor rights. In concrete numbers, over 80 percent of new reactors that have broken ground around the world since 2017 have been Russian or Chinese designs — even though the United States and Europe have historically led the development of civil nuclear projects. This is a special concern when it comes to energy security, as we’ve already seen how Russia exploits its energy exports as geopolitical leverage over current and prospective customers. Russia’s ruthless, unjustified war against Ukraine only reinforces this threat, as Russia continues to use its oil and gas exports to retaliate against European countries that are critical of its brutal invasion.
Throughout this year, I’ve met with a wide array of countries that are seeking to build both large and small modular reactors. For example, I led the U.S. Commerce Department’s delegation to Bucharest, Romania, for a transatlantic energy and climate conference coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy: the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation, or P-TECC. And, I led the U.S. Commerce Department’s delegation to the first-ever Nuclear Energy Summit, hosted in Brussels by the International Atomic Energy Agency and Government of Belgium. Throughout my discussions with senior government counterparts and top industry leaders, several priorities came up repeatedly.
The first is the need for strong government-to-government commitments to civil nuclear energy projects. These commitments are a key focus of the U.S. Commerce Department’s commercial diplomacy — whether through bilateral dialogues, joint declarations or the Small Modular Reactor Public-Private Program, known as the SMR PPP.
As many of you know, the SMR PPP is a U.S. Commerce Department-led initiative to promote cooperation on developing and deploying SMRs. Over the past several years, my team has been proud to work with USTDA to organize five different SMR Standards and Regulatory Workshops in Europe and Eurasia, bringing together key government and industry representatives to overcome challenges to deploying SMRs.
Another avenue to further strengthen government-to-government partnerships has been the signing of Civil Nuclear Joint Declarations and Memoranda of Cooperation. With the goal of expanding commercial cooperation in the energy sector, including civil nuclear energy, my team has set up these agreements across several European markets, including Czechia, Italy, Poland and Slovakia.
And, just last week, my team hosted the U.S.-Poland Economic and Commercial Dialogue in Washington, DC, which included discussions on how our two countries can deepen cooperation on civil nuclear energy. Poland is an especially exciting example of what’s possible. Since last Fall, Poland’s nuclear power plant developer has been partnering with two U.S. companies — Westinghouse and Bechtel — to build the country’s first-ever civil nuclear power plant, which has the ultimate goal of producing enough energy to power 13 million homes. This is an exciting success story in the making.
The second priority that I’ll mention is strengthening supply chains for civil nuclear energy, which includes incorporating local supply chains into new projects. In the United States, we’re securing our own supply chain for civil nuclear fuel, including through a law that President Biden signed in May to prohibit the import of Russian uranium products. This law sends a clear message that the United States is committed to long-term growth of our domestic civil nuclear sector, as well as the security of the global nuclear fuel supply chain. In addition, the United States is monitoring uranium imports from China and other countries to ensure that they aren’t circumventing U.S. sanctions on Russian imports.
Simultaneously, the United States is investing over $2.7 billion to expand uranium production capacity here at home, in part to replace Russian sources, but also to offer a trusted alternative to U.S. allies and partners. Collectively, the United States, Canada, France, Japan and the United Kingdom — also known as the Sapporo 5 — have committed over $5 billion in investments to secure a reliable nuclear fuel cycle that’s free from manipulation by malign actors. These robust investments are an important step forward.
When it comes to supply chain resilience, the U.S. government is committed to taking action and mobilizing resources. But the civil nuclear industry — many of you and your companies — are vital to the long-term future of these supply chains.
That’s why the U.S. Commerce Department also organizes and supports trade missions focused on civil nuclear energy. These trade missions bring cutting-edge U.S. companies to countries that are interested in deploying these technologies. Last month, my team brought 28 U.S. companies and organizations to the IAEA General Conference in Vienna, Austria. And, in June, my team supported the Nuclear Energy Institute’s trade mission to Sweden and Finland, following on the heels of a trade mission to Poland and Czechia last year.
The third area where we need more cooperation is project financing, which several U.S. government agencies can support — including the U.S. Export–Import Bank, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, the U.S. Department of State and, of course, USTDA. Beyond U.S. government institutions, we also continue to encourage international financial institutions to include civil nuclear energy in future lending policies. It’s notable that, during Climate Week in New York City about two weeks ago, 14 major global banks and financial institutions expressed their support to triple nuclear energy by 2050.
I’ll also commend the EU’s Sustainable Finance Taxonomy as a notable example of how governments can further incentivize and create a stronger enabling environment to deploy nuclear reactors. In particular, the inclusion of nuclear energy in the EU’s taxonomy officially categorizes it as an environmentally sustainable energy source, and thus eligible for EU financing.
The last area that I’ll highlight is workforce development. Just last week, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a $100 million nuclear safety training and workforce development program. By partnering with universities, technical colleges, industry and national labs, this program is advancing not only energy security and the clean energy transition, but also valuable job opportunities in the growing civil nuclear industry.
I’ll close today by thanking all of you for being here, and for your strong commitments to expanding cooperation in such an exciting sector. Investing in civil nuclear energy will not only generate new sources of clean energy for millions — it’s also a national security imperative and a huge business opportunity. I look forward to learning about the new projects and partnerships that this week’s discussions will cultivate in the months and years ahead. Thank you.