In the shadows of a massive monument glorifying nuclear energy, over 30 leaders and delegations from around the world are backing the idea to use the controversial source to help achieve the goal of a climate-neutral globe while giving more countries an added sense of economic and security independence.

Such a summit would have been unthinkable a dozen years ago in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, but a warming planet creating a need to phase out fossil fuels and war in Ukraine laying bare a dependence on Russian energy have turned the tables over the past half decade.