Cleantech Forum North America (San Diego) — January 27, 2026 — At Cleantech Forum North America, Anthropocene Institute convened a timely panel on a question that has quietly moved from fringe to central in climate finance: is nuclear finally investable at scale?

Moderated by Zainab Gilani, the 45-minute conversation, ”The New Nuclear Renaissance: Where Capital Meets Climate Impact” cut straight to the gap between reputation and reality. For decades, nuclear has been framed as slow, expensive, and politically fraught. Panelists argued that, in 2026, those assumptions are increasingly out of date.

Panelists pointed to a confluence of demand pull, clearer policy support, and more disciplined project execution that is beginning to change nuclear’s risk profile relative to other capital-intensive climate bets like hydrogen, CCS, and long-duration storage. The question is no longer whether nuclear can be financed, but under what structures it becomes repeatable.

That theme carried through Dr. Leslie Dewan’s remarks on what an investable nuclear project actually looks like in the next 5 to 7 years. The panel emphasized that many risks are mispriced: safety risks tend to be overestimated, while execution, supply chain, and workforce constraints remain very real (and solvable) challenges.

Turning to near-term deployment, Erik outlined the “low-hanging fruit” already in front of the market: uprates and restarts, leveraging existing sites, hyperscaler offtake agreements, and large projects supported by federal loan programs. These opportunities, while not flashy, are capital-efficient and immediately impactful.

Guido Núñez‑Mujica zoomed out to the global picture, highlighting why recent policy shifts, such as the U.S. ADVANCE Act and the World Bank’s reversal on nuclear financing, matter for capital formation, not just perception. He also pointed to growth markets beyond the U.S. and Europe, and to the still-untapped upside from nuclear’s exclusion from global carbon markets.

The panel closed with a clear takeaway: AI, data centers, and industrial electrification are creating a structural demand shock for firm, clean power. Whether or not individual announcements live up to the hype, the underlying energy need is real, and nuclear is uniquely positioned to meet it.

In one sentence, panelists agreed: over the next 24 months, standardized project execution, durable policy signals, and credible demand contracts are what will move nuclear from “promising” to mainstream climate investment.