Javascript is required for this site.
Issued by the World Nuclear Association
We welcome the IEA’s recognition of the potential for nuclear energy to play an important role in the transition to a clean energy system and we strongly endorse the IEA’s call for more investment in clean energy, including nuclear energy.
The publication today of The World Nuclear Supply Chain Outlook 2040 provides a market-oriented review of the opportunities and challenges for nuclear power plants and their supply chain, including scenarios for the evolution of nuclear energy over the next two decades.
World Nuclear Association announces that Agneta Rising will be stepping down from her position at the end of October. Dr Sama Bilbao y León has been appointed as the next Director General.
Nuclear generation reached a near-record high in 2019, with output reaching 2657 TWh, enough to meet more than 10% of the world’s electricity demand, according to the World Nuclear Association Performance Report 2020, which was published today.
World Nuclear Association has released a new White Paper outlining why nuclear projects should be part of the economic and employment recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Background information on topical issues
Agneta Rising's speech at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) International Conference on Climate Change and the Role of Nuclear Power, in Vienna on October 2019, highlighted the need for governments to take action to create the conditions needed to allow nuclear energy to deliver its potential.
Agneta Rising's speech looking back on progress made by the nuclear industry, and looking ahead to future opportunities. The speech was to mark the NEA's 60th anniversary.
Full text of speech made by Agneta Rising to the Energy Commission Members of the Bulgarian Parliament on 25 January 2018.
Germany is projected to miss its 2020 emissions reduction target because it has prioritised closing nuclear plants ahead of closing coal plants.
Although peak generation from solar briefly exceeded generation from nuclear energy on 26 May 2017 in the UK, over the whole day nuclear generated considerably more low carbon electricity. Expanding nuclear offers greater potential for emissions savings.
World Nuclear Association
Published: Thu, 29 Oct 2020 16:35:33 GMT
Synthos Green Energy has entered discussions with the Polish nuclear regulator about a potential GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy BWRX-300 small modular reactor project. SGE is seeking a general opinion from the regulator, Państwowa Agencja Atomistyki, which it described as the first step of the procedure before the regulatory process for the planned construction of a nuclear power plant in Poland.
Published: Thu, 29 Oct 2020 14:17:46 GMT
The USA and Bulgaria recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding on civil nuclear cooperation. Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov noted that nuclear energy is one of the "greenest and cleanest" energies and that is why the country wants to use "safer technology of the latest generation" and to achieve diversification of nuclear fuel.
Published: Thu, 29 Oct 2020 14:57:20 GMT
The International Atomic Energy Agency has developed arrangements to help countries respond quickly to protect the public and the environment in the event of an accident involving radioactive materials launched into orbit or travelling in spacecraft.
Published: Wed, 28 Oct 2020 14:28:02 GMT
Achieving the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals requires international organisations overcoming bureaucratic barriers and forging partnerships, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said yesterday. "Partnerships are both a moral imperative, but also a practical necessity," he said during a virtual panel discussion on Partnership for the Goals at the World Health Summit in Berlin.
Published: Wed, 28 Oct 2020 15:39:52 GMT
The Commonwealth of Independent States plans to establish an association of nuclear energy regulators and organisations that provide scientific and technical support. A draft memorandum on this was approved at the 21st meeting of the CIS commission on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, which was held via video link yesterday. The meeting was chaired by the head of the commission, Belarus' Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadyuk.
Published: Wed, 28 Oct 2020 15:35:59 GMT
As electricity's share of global energy consumption continues to rise, a comprehensive approach will be needed in the coming years to ensure security of supply while meeting challenges that include cyber threats, extreme weather events and rapidly growing shares of variable renewable electricity generation, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency.
Published: Wed, 28 Oct 2020 14:37:59 GMT
The Ukrainian Energy Association says it is writing to the government urging enhanced support for the country’s nuclear industry. UEA initiated a roundtable to discuss the challenges facing the industry, which took place in Kiev on 22 October. Participants in the meeting included the head of Energoatom, Pyotr Kotin, and the chairman of the nuclear regulator, Grigory Plachkov.
Published: Tue, 27 Oct 2020 15:14:36 GMT
France and Romania have signed a declaration of intent on cooperation in the civil nuclear field, which aims, among other things, to work "with strategic partners" to build units 3 and 4 of the Cernavoda nuclear power plant and to upgrade unit 1. The document was signed yesterday by French Prime Minister Jean Castex and his Romanian counterpart Ludovic Orban, who led a delegation of his ministers to Paris.
Published: Tue, 27 Oct 2020 15:51:17 GMT
Canadian Nuclear Laboratories has been awarded a contract by Transport Canada to develop an assessment tool to examine clean technologies that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the release of other pollutants from marine vessels. CNL scientists will also examine different technologies that can be used for the production, storage and handling of hydrogen for marine vessels.
Published: Tue, 27 Oct 2020 15:12:05 GMT
Germany is showing continued strong support for the International Atomic Energy Agency's mission to foster global peace and development, even as the country phases out its own use of nuclear power, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said yesterday during a two-day visit to Germany. Decommissioning and waste management will be important areas for future cooperation between Germany and the IAEA, he said.
Published: Mon, 26 Oct 2020 14:54:39 GMT
Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, today reiterated that all clean technologies, including nuclear, will be needed for a low-carbon economic recovery, while Frans Timmermans, executive vice-president of the European Commission, stressed that the Commission “would not stand in the way” of EU Member States that support nuclear power. Timmermans was speaking as Birol's guest in the latest edition of the IEA's Big Ideas speaker series.
Published: Mon, 26 Oct 2020 16:45:27 GMT
The board of the Ministry for Emergency Situations of Belarus has issued a permit for the power start-up of unit 1 of the country's first nuclear power plant, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom announced today. Based on the resolution of the State Regulatory Authority of Belarus, the board agreed on 23 October to amend the licences of the Belorusian NPP and JSC ASE EC, allowing this work to begin, Rosatom said.
Published: Mon, 26 Oct 2020 14:50:13 GMT
Ontario Power Generation has officially opened its Centre for Canadian Nuclear Sustainability Innovation and Collaboration Space in Pickering in Ontario's Durham Region. The regional hub will integrate collaboration and research to strengthen Ontario's supply chain for nuclear decommissioning.
Published: Mon, 26 Oct 2020 13:35:16 GMT
A planned expansion of the Olympic Dam copper, gold and uranium mine in South Australia has been scrapped by BHP Billiton after studies of the ore body questioned the viability of the project. It has decided instead to invest in the existing infrastructure at the underground mine.
Published: Fri, 23 Oct 2020 10:02:40 GMT
Unit 2 of the Leningrad II nuclear power plant in Sosnovy Bor, in Western Russia, was connected to the national grid today for the first time. Following this trial operation, the unit will be shut down for an additional equipment inspection by a state commission, Rosatom said, before being put into commercial operation, which is scheduled for 2021. The new unit will replace Leningrad unit 2, which is an RBMK-1000 reactor.
Published: Fri, 23 Oct 2020 13:26:57 GMT
The lifting of economic sanctions against Iran remains an essential part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and its signatories are committed to expanding the special purpose vehicle that enables European businesses to maintain trade with the country, according to the European Commission's foreign affairs spokesperson Peter Stano.
Published: Fri, 23 Oct 2020 12:28:39 GMT
Poland will ask the European Commission to approve state aid for the construction of what will be the country's first nuclear power plants, Secretary of State for Strategic Energy Infrastructure Piotr Naimski told reporters in Warsaw yesterday, according to Reuters. "It is impossible these days to build a nuclear power plant without state support," Naimski said.
Published: Fri, 23 Oct 2020 12:12:41 GMT
Ultra Safe Nuclear Technologies - a subsidiary of Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation - has developed a design concept as part of NASA-funded research into nuclear thermal propulsion systems for potential use in deep space travel. The concept uses a specialised variation of USNC's proprietary fully ceramic microencapsulated, tristructural isotropic fuel, developed for use in power reactors.
Published: Thu, 22 Oct 2020 11:29:06 GMT
Unit 5 at the Fuqing nuclear power plant in China's Fujian province attained a sustained chain reaction for the first time yesterday, China National Nuclear Corporation has announced. The unit - the first of two demonstration Hualong One reactors at the site - is scheduled to begin commercial operation by the end of this year, with unit 6 following by the end of next year. Unit 5 will be the world's first Hualong One reactor to be commissioned.
Published: Thu, 22 Oct 2020 13:51:40 GMT
The Chernobyl Shelter Fund has officially been completed after receiving non-objection for closure by the assembly of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The London-headquartered bank set up the CSF in 1997 to assist Ukraine in making the site of the temporary shelter over Chernobyl's destroyed reactor 4 stable and environmentally safe. The New Safe Confinement also aims to create the conditions for the eventual dismantling and decommissioning of the contaminated structure.
Published: Tue, 27 Oct 2020 16:00:35 GMT
"In many ways, the future of nuclear energy is much brighter than it has been for many years. We are evermore recognised and valued for the unique services that nuclear energy offers humanity, and I am immensely proud to have served and led our industry through these exciting times," writes Agneta Rising, the outgoing director general of World Nuclear Association.
Published: Thu, 22 Oct 2020 13:36:56 GMT
Resuming operation of the Kayelekera uranium mine in Malawi will cost an estimated USD50 million, a restart scoping study has concluded. Australian-based exploration company Lotus Resources Ltd bought the mine - currently in care and maintenance - from Paladin Energy earlier this year. Lotus says it now plans to advance to a restart feasibility study.
Published: Thu, 22 Oct 2020 12:31:21 GMT
The International Atomic Energy Agency has announced that Rosatom Technical Academy has become the first IAEA Collaborating Centre to extend its work with the Vienna-based agency into three different programmatic areas: nuclear sciences and applications, nuclear security and nuclear energy.
Published: Thu, 22 Oct 2020 11:24:32 GMT
A new report published today by New Nuclear Watch Institute concludes that new nuclear build is the most efficient way to achieve decarbonisation of the electricity grid, being able to reduce system carbon intensity by up to 34% per megawatt of installed capacity compared to intermittent renewables. It recommends that policymakers look beyond the levelised cost of electricity to assess the overall system impact of power generation technologies.
Published: Wed, 21 Oct 2020 14:46:20 GMT
Energoatom has "various options" for attracting investment in the completion of the third and fourth units of the Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant, Herman Halushchenko, the company's vice president of development, said in an interview on the Energy Freedom talk show hosted by Energy Club on 19 October. Energoatom published a summary of the interview yesterday.
Published: Wed, 21 Oct 2020 14:26:31 GMT
The US Department of Energy and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have agreed to extend their existing cooperation by a further 10 years. One area for continued cooperation is space nuclear power and propulsion.
Published: Wed, 21 Oct 2020 12:03:16 GMT
After leaving the Iter project in 2003, Canada has now signed a cooperation agreement with the ITER Organisation for the transfer of Canadian-supplied tritium, and tritium-related equipment and technology. The agreement follows the signing in April 2018 of a Memorandum of Understanding to explore how Canada could participate in the project to construct the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.
Published: Tue, 20 Oct 2020 12:03:55 GMT
US Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette and Poland's Secretary of State for Strategic Energy Infrastructure Piotr Naimski yesterday discussed the signing of the first intergovernmental agreement to cooperate on the development of Poland's civil nuclear power programme. Brouillette signed the agreement yesterday and it will be signed by Naimski once it is received in Warsaw.
Published: Tue, 20 Oct 2020 14:31:02 GMT
Cold functional testing of unit 3 at the Vogtle nuclear power plant near Waynesboro, Georgia, has been completed, Georgia Power announced yesterday. The tests mark the first time the reactor systems have been operated together with the auxiliary systems.
Published: Tue, 20 Oct 2020 13:42:56 GMT
China National Nuclear Corporation has announced completion of cold functional tests at the first reactor of the demonstration high-temperature gas-cooled reactor plant (HTR-PM) in Shandong province. Cold testing of the second unit at the plant has now begun. A further 18 such HTR-PM units are proposed for the same site in Shidaowan.
Tel: +44 20 7451 1536
press@world-nuclear.org
Tel: +44 20 7451 1522