World Nuclear News

A group of 14 global financial institutions have expressed their support for the call to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050. Their message, during New York Climate Week, stated their recognition that global civil nuclear energy projects have an important role to play in the transition to a low-carbon economy and means they join 25 countries and more than 120 companies already signed up to that...

Total nuclear electricity generation rose in 2023 despite a small drop in overall capacity, according to World Nuclear Performance Report 2024. In this episode, lead author Jonathan Cobb , senior programme lead, climate, at World Nuclear Association, joins us to pick out the key stats and trends from the annual collection of operating facts and figures. He explains how the average operating capaci...

Steady Energy is developing the LDR-50 small modular reactor with the initial goal of decarbonising district heating systems. The CEO of the Finnish company, Tommi Nyman , explains why the decision to focus on heat rather than electricity was taken. The company was spun out of VTT, Finland's national research lab, and was prompted by its researchers noting that 10% of CO2 emissions come from...

Southern Nuclear's Senior Vice President for Vogtle 3 and 4, John Williams , discusses the achievement and "tremendous pride" from everyone involved in completing the first new nuclear units built in the USA for more than 30 years. He says that both AP1000s have been performing well, with Vogtle 3 operating at 98% capacity since being put into service a year ago. And, as well as the...

The historian, author and academic Jean-Baptiste Fressoz explains why he thinks that the idea of energy transition is a simplistic and flawed one, noting that what has actually happened throughout history has been different energy sources piling up on top of each other - such as more wood being used after the "switch" to coal, and more coal being used after the emergence of oil. Even if...

A special report on the World Nuclear Fuel Cycle 2024 international forum, co-organised by the Nuclear Energy Institute and World Nuclear Association. The two day event included discussions from leading industry figures on all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle, including uranium mining, conversion, and enrichment companies, utilities, fuel suppliers and waste management specialists. One key questi...

Professor Tim Tinsley prefers not to use the label of nuclear waste, instead referring to "legacy material". And it's not hard to see why, given the projects currently taking place to extract radionuclides from the material for use in pioneering treatments for cancer. It is also providing a new source of power and heat for spacecraft. Tinsley, Professor of Space Nuclear Power at the...

The ambitious aim for NexGen Energy, is to be supplying 25% of the world's mined supply of uranium - and about 50% of the western world's mined supply - when its Rook 1 project in Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada starts production, says its CEO, President and founder, Leigh Curyer . He joins host Alex Hunt and Claire Maden to outline how he got into the industry and the decision to...

The UK operations managing director of Newcleo, Andrew Murdoch , joins host Alex Hunt to discuss the prospects for the company's lead-cooled fast reactor. It has Italian roots and expanding operations in France, but he says the company has the ambitious target  of having 20 reactors in the UK by 2050. January saw EDF revise the schedule and projected budget for the Hinkley Point C project in...

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 ro...

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 gove...

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 se...

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 al...

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...

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...

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...

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 i...

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 -...

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 re...

The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency released a report in March which it described as the first publicly available international data on gender balance in the nuclear sector. Claire Maden reports on the report's key findings (that there's still a long way to go to boost female representation in the sector) and also on what NEA Director General William D Magwood IV and Fiona Rayment , chair of...

Brandon Munro, CEO of Bannerman Energy, joins us to consider the impact on the uranium and wider nuclear sector of the Russia-Ukraine war as it continues into a second year. Munro sees a bright future for the uranium sector and also talks about the prospects for an expansion of nuclear in Africa and why he sees the Cameco-Westinghouse deal as a good thing, and one which gives more backing for the...

What can be done to improve the process of getting approval for new nuclear in different countries? If a reactor, for example a small modular reactor, is approved in one country, can that help to speed up the process in a different country? Jay Wileman is president and CEO of GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy so is well placed to outline what the issues are for companies such as his, which is currently in...

Uranium is a key part of the nuclear energy sector and there has been a growing focus on it, and the entire nuclear fuel cycle, following Russia's military action in Ukraine. Claire Maden sets out the fascinating history of uranium and John Ciampaglia, CEO of Sprott Asset Management , joins us to discuss the uranium market in 2022 and how that is linked to wider nuclear sector developments. A...

The World Association of Nuclear Operators generally keeps a low public profile, but its CEO Ingemar Engkvist joins us to explain why that low public profile is deliberate, and outlines how the organisation works and how its members support each other.  He also discusses the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war. Watch out for Engkvist's very unusual story about how he first became involved in the...

October saw the big news that a strategic partnership of Cameco Corporation and Brookfield Renewable Partners is to acquire Westinghouse Electric Company for a total enterprise value of approximately USD8 billion.   Brookfield Renewable, together with its institutional partners, will own a 51% interest in Westinghouse and Cameco will own 49%. Closing of the transaction is expected in the second ha...