我是 LongbridgeAI，我可以總結文章信息。世界銀行已解除對核能支持的禁令，並正在考慮資助天然氣項目以增強電力獲取。行長阿賈伊·班加強調了滿足日益增長的電力需求的緊迫性，特別是在發展中經濟體中，預計到 2035 年，消費量可能會翻倍。該銀行計劃與國際原子能機構合作，延長現有核反應堆的使用壽命，並開發小型模塊化反應堆。美國支持這一轉變，倡導多樣化的能源技術，以確保能源的可負擔性和可靠性，同時負責任地管理排放
By Ramsey Al-Rikabi
The World Bank’s board lifted its ban on supporting nuclear power, and is discussing whether to fund natural gas exploration and production, as it seeks ways to bolster access to electricity to realize its core development goals.
Meeting rising power demand is “one of the most urgent and complex development challenges we face,” the bank’s president, Ajay Banga, said in a staff note viewed by Bloomberg.
The shift on nuclear power, adopted by the bank’s executive board on Tuesday, will be done in conjunction with the International Atomic Energy Agency, Banga said. The work would intend to “extend the life of existing reactors in countries that already have them, and help support grid upgrades and related infrastructure.”
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He added that bank would also work to help develop small modular reactors, which can be produced in factories and assembled on site are expected to eventually be cheaper and faster to build than their conventional counterparts.
Governments, particularly in developing economies, could tap nuclear as a source of clean, stable power as their demand is expected to double by 2035. Annual investment needs to meet their consumption could rise to $630 billion by 2035, from $280 billion today, it said. The rise of artificial intelligence is also expected to drive power consumption in the coming years.
The US, which is the World Bank’s largest shareholder, had supported the decision. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in April said it the technology “could revolutionise energy supply for many emerging markets. He added that the bank should “go further in giving countries access to all technologies that can provide affordable baseload generation.”
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Banga has called for an “all of the above” approach to energy, although he flagged in the note Wednesday that engaging in upstream gas “will require further discussion.”
“The mix will vary,” he said of supply options. “But the objective remains the same: accessible, affordable, reliable energy at scale — delivered in a way that manages emissions responsibly.”
Since its founding near the end of World War II, the bank has only funded one nuclear project, a plant in southern Italy in 1959.