World Nuclear News

The UK has plans to quadruple its nuclear energy capacity to 24GW by 2050. The government released its plan to get to that figure with its Civil Nuclear: Roadmap to 2050.  The arms-length delivery body established for new nuclear is Great British Nuclear, and in this episode, its Chairman Simon Bowen discusses the plans, and the changes proposed in how sites are chosen and in establishing other routes to market for new nuclear.

Bowen also sets out the latest on the UK's on-going small modular reactor competition. At the moment there are six shortlisted - EDF, GE Hitachi, Holtec, NuScale, Rolls-Royce SMR and Westinghouse. The aim is to get the invitation to tender documents out very soon, he said, with contracts agreed later this year with up to four of them, which would take them through to a financial investment decision by 2029.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
Great British Nuclear
Consultation on siting new nuclear
Consultation on alternative routes to market
UK SMR selection contest: Six companies into next stage

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Episode credit:  Presenter Alex Hunt. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production 

A special report on nuclear's role at the 28th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, better known as COP28, in Dubai. It was the first time nuclear energy has been formally specified as one of the solutions to climate change in a COP agreement.

Jonathan Cobb, senior communication manager at World Nuclear Association, was in the UAE for the event and he reports on declarations by governments, and by industry, backing a tripling of nuclear capacity by 2050 as part of the Net Zero Nuclear intiative, as well as the inclusion of nuclear in the final  text of the Global Stocktake. Henry Preston, external communication manager for the association, reports on the many side events featuring nuclear, including a focus on potential newcomer countries such as the Philippines and Australia.

As the new year gets under way Sama Bilbao y León, director general of World Nuclear Association, considers the significance of COP28  for nuclear and looks back at the sector's main achievements of 2023 as well as looking ahead to the coming year's main goals and key moments to watch out for.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
Net Zero Nuclear
COP28 agreement recognises nuclear's role
Net Zero Nuclear Industry Pledge backed by 120 companies
Ministerial declaration puts nuclear at heart of climate action
COP28

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Episode credit:  Presenter Alex Hunt. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production 

Technology and function, ensuring their reliable and safe operation have long been the priorities when designing nuclear power plants. But why can't they look beautiful too?  Dutch architect and designer Erick van Egeraat says that part of the way to continue to build public support for nuclear energy is to make nuclear power plants look good, "to make people feel good" when they see them.

The award-winning professor and director of Design Erick van Egeraat outlined his thinking at World Nuclear Symposium, explaining the background to the work he is doing at Akkuyu nuclear power plant, which is being built in Turkey.

In the World Nuclear News monthly round-up Warwick Pipe reports on Sweden's plans for a "massive" expansion of nuclear energy and Claire Maden covers the end of NuScale and Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems'  Carbon Free Power Project.

And David Hess looks at how the conversation about nuclear has evolved and changed  during his 14 years at World Nuclear Association, most recently as ESG programme lead.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant
Design Erick van Egeraat
NuScale CEO remains upbeat after CFPP cancellation
Sweden plans 'massive' expansion of nuclear energy

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Episode credit:  Presenter Alex Hunt. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production 

With the projected growth of nuclear projects over the coming decades, how will the supply chain in different parts of the world cope? EDF's Laurent-Olivier Coudeyre is chairman of World Nuclear Association's Supply Chain and Long-Term Operation Working Group, he joins us to outline how the supply chain works, the focus on quality, localisation and how it can develop in the future. We also hear from Nathan Paterson, the staff director of the association's working group, about some of the key themes from the recently published World Nuclear Supply Chain Report.

Also in this edition, Claire Maden joins host Alex Hunt to report on developments in Canada where Bruce Power is getting the ball rolling for a potential Bruce C plant and Alberta is looking into the possible use of small modular reactors in its oil sands industry.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
Supply Chain and Long-Term Operation Working Group
Supply chain must expand to meet new build plans, report warns

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Episode credit:  Presenter Alex Hunt. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production

World Nuclear Symposium, held in London, brought together key figures from across the global industry, who took part in a variety of panel discussions on many of the current big issues in the sector. In this special edition of the podcast, World Nuclear News reports on those sessions:

The topics covered, in order:

• The launch of the Net Zero Nuclear campaign
• Publication of World Nuclear Association's Nuclear Fuel Report
• Recruitment and expanding the nuclear workforce
• How nuclear can decarbonise different industries
• Optimising plant life performance
• Investing in and financing of nuclear

We hear from, in order of appearance:

• Sama Bilbao y León, Director General of World Nuclear Association
• Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency
• Mohamed Al Hammadi, CEO, Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation
• Kaajal Desai, Senior Programme Lead for Fuel Cycle, World Nuclear Association
• Malcolm Critchley, President and CEO ConverDyn
• Chris Frankland, Director of Sales and Marketing, Nuclear Fuels Corporation
• Jeanne Tortorelli, Director of Nuclear Fuel Supply at Constellation Energy Generation
• Tamer Albishawi, Chief Nuclear Officer at Hinkley Point C
• Callum Thomas, Chairman of Thomas Thor
• Grace Stanke, Nuclear Engineering Student, Nuclear Advocate and Miss America
• Charlotte Griffiths, Sustainable Energy Division of the UN Economic Commission for Europe
• Todd Noe, Director of Nuclear Technologies Strategy at Microsoft
• Mikal Bøe, Chairman and CEO Core Power
• Naoki Chigusa, CEO of World Association of Nuclear Operators
• Vinod Kumar, Station Director of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited's Kaiga 3 and 4
• Catherine Cornand, Senior Executive Vice President Framatome
• Chris Cunningham, Vice President Nuclear Projects at Ontario Power Generation
• Wolfgang Denk, Managing Director, Swissnuclear
• Keisuke Sadamori, Director Energy Markets and Security, International Energy Agency
• Iain Smedley, Global Chairman of Banking, Barclays
• Kevin Kelly, CFO Bruce Power
• Julien Bocobza, Partner, White & Case LLC
• Sophie Macfarlane-Smith, Head of Customer Engagement Rolls-Royce SMR
• Thomas Branche, Senior Vice President for Engineering, Assystem
• Rumina Velshi, President and CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
• Erick van Egeraat, Architect
• Tim Gitzel, President and CEO Cameco

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear Symposium 2023
Nuclear Fuel Report 2023
Nuclear industry urged 'take advantage of window of opportunity'
Net Zero Nuclear campaign launched, seeking to triple capacity by 2050
The challenge of recruiting a rapidly growing nuclear workforce
Positive trends continue for global nuclear fuel cycle
Successful nuclear projects key for future investments

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[email protected]

Episode credit:  Presenter Alex Hunt. Reports from Claire Maden and Warwick Pipe. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production.

It was in 2003 that World Nuclear University was founded by World Nuclear Association, the International Atomic Energy Agency, World Association of Nuclear Operators and the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency,  with a mission to provide comprehensive leadership, communications and technical training to support the next generation of nuclear leaders.

As it marks its 20th birthday, host Alex Hunt is joined by World Nuclear University (WNU)  director Isis Leslie to learn more about its work and also its exciting plans for the future. We also hear first-hand what the WNU experience is like from Estiner Katengeza, one of the fellows at this year's Summer Institute, which was held in Japan.

In the World Nuclear News round-up Claire Maden reports on developments in Niger and considers the impact on the uranium sector, Warwick Pipe reports on the start of the discharge of treated water from Fukushima and there is also a report on the good news out of the USA from Vogtle.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
World Nuclear University
WNU Alumni on Linkedin

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Contact info:
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Episode credit:  Presenter Alex Hunt. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production 

The annual World Nuclear Performance Report has all the statistics and numbers anyone interested in the nuclear energy sector could possibly want. It breaks down the performance of reactors across the world by type, by age and by country. The author behind it is World Nuclear Association's Jonathan Cobb, who joins us to discuss this year's findings.

As well as explaining the reason why some parts of the world saw a small decline in nuclear energy output in 2022, he has a bundle of fascinating stats - including those which suggest the oldest reactors, ie over 50 years old,  are more than matching the performance of the newer and younger ones.

In the July World Nuclear News round-up Claire Maden covers a bundle of good news stories from Canada, Warwick Pipe reports on developments in France and Poland, while host Alex Hunt hears from UK Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Grant Shapps as he launched Great British Nuclear, the arms-length organisation intended to help the country hit its target of 24 GW of nuclear by 2050.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
World Nuclear Performance Report 2023
Great British Nuclear

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Episode credit:  Presenter Alex Hunt. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production 

What is the current position with nuclear energy in the continent of Africa and what are the prospects for the future? Lassina Zerbo is the former head of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization and current chairman of the Rwanda Atomic Energy Board - he joins us to discuss the situation at the moment and look ahead to the future.

He talks about the history and considers why there is only one country in the continent with an operating nuclear power plant, and how changes in public opinion and nuclear technology are helping to drive a wide range of planned developments. Director of World Nuclear Association's Harmony programme, King Lee, also outlines some of the many initiatives taking place which could transform the nuclear energy picture in Africa in the years to come.

June has been another busy month for World Nuclear News and Warwick Pipe reports on developments with China's molten salt reactor, while Claire Maden sets out the USA's efforts to tackle the issue of HALEU fuel supplies for the next generation of nuclear reactors.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
Emerging Nuclear Energy Countries
Nuclear 'gaining traction' as option in many African countries, says IAEA
Viewpoint: Nuclear energy is critical to Africa's agenda for sustainable development

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Episode credit:  Presenter Alex Hunt. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production 

The World Nuclear Fuel Cycle international forum is co-organised by the Nuclear Energy Institute and World Nuclear Association. As the name suggests, this conference is very much focused on the commercial nuclear fuel cycle and the economic competitiveness of nuclear energy, so as you'd expect, the programme is firmly based around the issues that are of significance in the fuel marketplace - and that's certainly a complex and challenging place right now.

Claire Maden has put together a special report on this year's gathering, which took place in April in the Netherlands.

There has been a dramatic fall in the price of electricity in Finland over the past six months. Can that be linked to Olkiluoto 3's recent move into commercial operation? World Nuclear Association's Alec Mitchell crunches the numbers and explains the price fluctuation.

The past month has also seen the unveiling of Westinghouse's proposed AP300 small modular reactor. Warwick Pipe reports on the launch and the back-story to the latest SMR contender.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
World Nuclear Fuel Cycle 2023
Nuclear Power in Finland
Westinghouse's AP300

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Episode credit:  Presenter Alex Hunt. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production 

The French nuclear giant EDF and its partners have been working on their Nuward small nuclear reactor and have now spun the operation into a subsidiary company.  Renaud Crassous, president of Nuward joins us to discuss its plans and timelines, and explains why the decision to set up a subsidiary company was taken.

During a wide-ranging interview Crassous talks about the pioneering early design regulatory review being jointly carried out by regulators in three countries, and explains why the aim is for Nuward to be 'Europe's SMR' rather than just a French one.

April has been a busy month for World Nuclear News's Warwick Pipe and Claire Maden who join host Alex Hunt to report on Germany exiting the nuclear energy scene as its last three nuclear reactors were shut down in the middle of the month. Plus, on a brighter note, they also explain the significance just a few days later of a ceremony held to inaugurate the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, as Turkey officially joined the league of nations with nuclear energy capacity. And there's time too for some positive news from Finland and its Olkiluoto 3 EPR.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
Nuward
A guide: The end of Germany’s nuclear power
Presidents address ceremony inaugurating Turkey's first nuclear plant
TVO accepts Olkiluoto EPR ahead of commercial operation

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Contact info:
[email protected]

Episode credit:  Presenter Alex Hunt. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production