^{Aerial view of the Doel nuclear power plant in Belgium. Photo: Alexandre Jacquemin/Creative Commons.}

The sheer size of nuclear projects might be a barrier in some markets where private investors are looking for short‑term paybacks. However, during a period of economic recovery, large‑scale and long‑term energy infrastructure projects, such as nuclear power plants, can galvanise the social cohesion and economic spill‑overs required to relaunch general economic activity.

• Governments should incentivise investments in resilient low‑carbon energy infrastructure, such as nuclear energy, in the aftermath of the COVID‑19 pandemic.
• Proper policy and market frameworks to incentivise investment in essential infrastructure that supports low‑carbon electricity security and economic development are needed.
• Transitional, targeted government support for nuclear energy projects will be indispensable to unlock the benefits of nuclear energy in the post‑COVID‑19 economic recovery.
• Government support can and should be leveraged to attract cost‑effective private financing to deliver nuclear energy infrastructure projects.
• There is currently a window of opportunity for governments to support sustained cost reductions in nuclear energy projects through timely new build decisions – thus reinforcing the process of learning by doing and allowing these designs to move along their learning and cost curves.

NTE-Web@oecd-nea.org