There have been a raft of announcements from India in February relating to new nuclear energy capacity. Retired diplomat, author and distinguished fellow of the Vivekananda International Foundation, Ambassador D. P. Srivastava, is the coordinator of a foundation task force report on the energy transition in the country and he joins us to discuss the future for nuclear energy in India.

The budget goal is to increase capacity from 7 GW to 100 GW by 2047, and as he explains, there will be a need for both indigenous and international technology involved in meeting that target. To help that process, India is now in the process of allowing private sector involvement in new nuclear and proposing changes to the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act of 2010, which has been seen as a stumbling block for overseas nuclear power plant vendors. In addition, Prime Minister Modi has recently agreed new cooperation deals with French President Macron and US President Trump.

Fuel has also been loaded into the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam, technology, which he explains, is set to play a key role in India's nuclear future. Srivastava also talks about the task force report's suggestion that India would need a huge amount more than 100 GW nuclear capacity if it is to achieve net zero by 2070.

All these announcements set the mood at India Energy Week, a huge event where nuclear took a prominent role. World Nuclear Association Director General Sama Bilbao y León was there and she joins us to give her impression of the event, which included Prime Minister Modi talking about new nuclear.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
Vivekananda International Foundation
Modi, Trump commit to US-India partnership
Collaboration key to clean energy dream, India Energy Week hears
India and France sign SMR and AMR partnership letter of intent
Indian budget launches Nuclear Energy Mission
USA to end restrictions on India's nuclear entities

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Contact info:
alex.hunt@world-nuclear.org

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

An agreement has been concluded to renew the Generation IV International Forum, which aims to build on its first 25 years of sharing research and development on innovative nuclear reactor designs. In this episode, William D Magwood IV, Director-General of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, which supports GIF as its Technical Secretariat, explains how the forum came about, how it works, what the key achievements have been so far and what the hopes for the future are.

He says that originally it was expected to be governments and government laboratories taking the lead, but now the private sector is doing it "which is very energising and very exciting". He says a key priority is to facilitate private sector success in the deployment of these technologies, albeit with challenges from working with IP issues across the private and public sector, and looks ahead to some lead countries demonstrating how these technologies can be regulated effectively.

All in all, he believes that the future for nuclear energy "is brighter than it's probably been in history".

In the World Nuclear News round-up Claire Maden reports on what we know so far about the impact on the nuclear sector from the return to the White House of US President Donald Trump, while Warwick Pipe has an update on the French nuclear power programme, following the Flamanville EPR's long-awaited connection to the grid.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
Gen IV International Forum
Climate and energy in Trump's Day One executive orders
French auditor warns of challenges for EPR2 programme
France's Flamanville EPR starts supplying power

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Sign up to the World Nuclear News daily or weekly news round-ups via our website

Contact info:
alex.hunt@world-nuclear.org

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

The World Nuclear News team looks back over the most read articles in 2024 - with topics including tech giants turning to nuclear energy for data centres, nuclear battery innovations, the uranium market and progress on current and proposed nuclear power capacity projects.

Then World Nuclear Association Director General Sama Bilbao y León sits down with host Alex Hunt to pick out key developments of the year - such as the public backing for nuclear from large financial institutions at New York Climate Week and political leaders declaring their commitment at the IAEA's Nuclear Energy Summit in Brussels.

She also highlights the importance of discussions at COP29 about carbon markets, and reflects on the similarities and differences in the case put for nuclear energy at conferences held in different parts of the world.

Looking ahead to 2025 there are big set-piece events to look forward to - such as World Nuclear Association's 50th Symposium, COP30 and the first World Nuclear Supply Chain conference - as well as likely big moments for Turkey and Bangladesh's first units - and continued work on financing and achieving a change in multilateral bank lending policies towards nuclear.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
COP29
World Nuclear Association
Net Zero Nuclear

Email newsletter:
Sign up to the World Nuclear News daily or weekly news round-ups

Contact info:
alex.hunt@world-nuclear.org

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