WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The push for more nuclear power to help fight climate change must come with strengthened safeguards to fight proliferation of fissile nuclear materials, one of a group of bipartisan U.S. senators attending the COP28 talks in Dubai said on Friday.

Promotion of nuclear power has played a big role in the COP28 talks with little discussion of safeguards for uranium and plutonium that can be used in nuclear weapons. More than 20 countries vowed on Dec. 2 to triple nuclear power capacity by 2050, with U.S. climate envoy John Kerry saying the world cannot achieve "net zero" emissions without building new reactors.

Senator Edward Markey, a Democrat, said there needs to be standards "to guarantee that we don't add to the climate crisis with a nuclear nonproliferation crisis."

"Any steps forward ... have to be accompanied by the very strongest, full-scope safeguards, or else we will see North Koreas, and Irans and Iraqs all across the planet," Markey told reporters in a call.

North Korea continued developing nuclear weapons in 2023 and evading U.N. sanctions that aim to sever funding for Pyongyang's nuclear program, according to the UN.

The U.S. says Iran is close to making a nuclear weapon, but Tehran says the program is for peaceful purposes. Iraq never built the bomb and dismantled its nuclear program after the 1991 Gulf War. The U.S. and eight other countries possess nuclear weapons.

"If we want to prevent localized, intense forms of global warming - nuclear explosions in the world's military hot spots - we're going to have to tighten our controls over 'peaceful' nuclear technology that can be easily swapped out to make bombs," said Henry Sokolski, head of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center.

The Senate delegation attending COP28 includes Democrats Tom Carper and Ben Cardin, and Republican Lisa Murkowski.

The group worked on the plane trip on legislation to support safeguards for smaller nuclear plants that could be built in factories called small modular reactors, Carper said. The measure is in the Senate's version of the National Defense Authorization Act and Carper said the group was working to ensure it could survive in the U.S. House's defense policy bill.

Cardin said lawmakers were working with many countries interested in nuclear power "to make sure that we have he best arrangement using U.S. technology and U.S. companies, we think that's the safest way forward."

Saudi Arabia is seeking to build nuclear power. Its de facto leader Mohammed bin Salman has said if Iran gets a nuclear arsenal the kingdom will seek one too.

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/nuclear-push-cop28-must-come-with-proliferation-safeguards-us-senator-2023-12-08/