- EU chief says China must 'adapt its behaviour' to solve trade row
- Musk unveils robotaxi, pledges it 'before 2027'
- Lynx rally, stun Liberty in overtime in WNBA Finals opener
- Pogacar hunting 'perfect' season finale with Coppi's Il Lombardia record
- 'Soul of old Baghdad': city centre sees timid revival
- Kittle at the double as Niners hold off Seahawks
- At least 11 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared
- Yankees advance in MLB playoffs as Guardians stay alive
- Asian markets mixed after Wall St drop, Shanghai dips before briefing
- Automaker Stellantis says CEO will retire in 2026
- Musk's promised robotaxi unveil delayed
- Kamada says Japan can close in on World Cup place against Australia
- On US coast, wind power foes embrace 'Save the Whales' argument
- Renewables revolt in Sardinia, Italy's coal-fired island
- Argentina held, Brazil leave it late in 2026 World Cup qualifiers
- Obama blasts 'crazy' Trump in first rally for Harris
- 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, a plea in favour of world order?
- Fry homers as Guardians down Tigers to stay alive in MLB playoffs
- Japan PM presses China's Li on airspace intrusion
- In Trump 'Truths,' conspiracies, attacks -- and doubts about the election
- How Sebastian Stan found a 'relatable' Trump for 'The Apprentice' biopic
- Panama's water wheel trash collector keeps plastic at bay
- It's still 'the economy, stupid,' says US political guru Carville
- Five key dates in the history of the America's Cup
- Zelensky to meet Pope, Scholz as whirlwind Europe tour ends
- At least 10 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared
- Far from eye, Hurricane Milton's deadly tornados rampaged Florida
- At least 10 dead in Florida after Hurricane Milton spawns tornadoes
- Argentina held, Bolivia stun Colombia in 2026 qualifiers
- Socceroos have 'nothing to fear' from Japan
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs sex trafficking trial set for May 2025
- Bolivia stun Colombia in World Cup qualifiers
- Internet Archive reels from 'catastrophic' cyberattack, data breach
- Greece earn late win against England in Nations League, Italy-Belgium stalemate
- Trump biopic 'The Apprentice' hits US theaters weeks before election
- Pavlidis dedicates 'special' Greece win over England to tragic Baldock
- Wall Street stocks retreat from records on US inflation data
- 'Like a quake': Beirut shaken after deadliest strikes on centre
- Fallen giants Ghana in AFCON trouble after Sudan draw
- Asian leaders meet in Laos with US, Russia on world turmoil
- England gamble backfires as Pavlidis fires emotional Greece to victory
- Obama stumps for Harris, Trump talks US protectionism
- New-look France ease past Israel in Nations League
- Belgium fight back to draw with 10-man Italy in Nations League
- 'Get a life': Hurricane whips up US election storm
- Japan stay perfect in World Cup qualifying
- Relief as Lebanon evacuees dock in Turkey
- Lebanon says 22 dead in Israeli strikes on central Beirut
- NBA boss Silver sees games back in China 'at some point'
- Israel strikes central Beirut, killing 22
Leaders tout nuclear power as climate tool at Brussels summit
More than 30 countries -- including European nations, the United States, Brazil and China -- took part on Thursday in the first-ever summit held by the United Nations' atomic energy agency to promote nuclear as a "clean and reliable source of energy".
"This is a fight where we have to use all the available, dispatchable, CO2-free energy sources for the common challenge," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Rafael Grossi told the gathering at the Atomium in Brussels -- a modernist landmark built for the 1958 World Fair.
The approach is anathema to a number of other European countries -- including Germany and Spain -- and to many environmentalists, who see the drive for nuclear as a harmful distraction from the need to invest massively, and immediately, in renewables.
The summit follows on from last year's COP28 UN climate negotiations, at which 22 world leaders backed a call to triple the world's nuclear energy capacity by 2050.
"It took 28 conferences on climate change to recognise, at long last, that nuclear should be accelerated," Grossi said. "Better late than never."
Now, said Grossi, the focus was on "what we still need to do" -- including crucially on the question of financing.
Nuclear currently accounts for just under 10 percent of global electricity generation, with 438 plants operating across 31 countries.
More than 500 plants are at various stages of planning and development, with 61 under construction according to World Nuclear Association data.
"I see around the world, nuclear is making a comeback. A very strong comeback," International Energy Agency (IEA) chief Fatih Birol told reporters at the gathering.
Birol attributed the shift chiefly to the quest for carbon-free power sources but also the search for secure and stable energy following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
He said there was "a key role for nuclear", while also acknowledging that the "major part" of carbon-free electricity needed to come from renewables -- solar, wind and hydro power.
In the European Union, France has been spearheading a drive to establish nuclear as a key source of carbon-free energy in the bloc, which has included it in its roadmap to reaching its 2040 climate goals.
Questioned by reporters about nuclear safety risks, French President Emmanuel Macron pointed to France's decades-long record of producing atomic energy "within a framework that is controlled, understood, mature".
"I say we should be much more worried, for instance, about CO2 emissions that have a direct impact on our health every day," Macron said.
While nuclear plants generate almost no greenhouse gases, critics hightlight that compared to renewables they can take decades to build, are expensive and generate hazardous waste.
The Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011 dealt the industry a severe blow and Russia's occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine, Europe's largest, has raised alarm in Kyiv about the risks of a new Chernobyl disaster.
To make the point, a Greenpeace activist climbed a wall at the venue with a banner reading "Nuclear Fairy Tale".
J.Williams--AMWN