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 capacity of nuclear power plants has been increasing - with trends showing that older nuclear plants operating better than they ever have. That, and a better year for output in France, helps to explain how output was able to rise, despite overall capacity not following suit.

Also in the episode, Juliann Edwards, chief development officer at start-up The Nuclear Company, explains the company's goals of getting fleet-scale nuclear energy projects up and running in the USA.

Edwards, who is also chair of US Women in Nuclear, talks as well about the initiatives and progress made in improving the gender balance and wider diversity within the nuclear workforce.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
World Nuclear Performance Report 2024
Nuclear fleet maintained high performance in 2023
Startup brings fresh approach to US nuclear deployment
US Women in Nuclear

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

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 heating water or steam to 150C and thinking "why not build something simple that would only cover low temperature heat markets". "In the context of the climate crisis, nuclear is a very good option, but the problem has been getting projects economically sound so that nuclear can be utilised without large subsidies. We know that the most economical way to use nuclear is just to generate thermal energy without using the heat to create electricity," he tells host Alex Hunt.

Nyman added that simplicity has been key to their design, "by only producing heat you can reduce the amount of equipment in a nuclear power plant by 50%". The cost of energy they are aiming at is below EUR40 per MWh, depending on how the utility wants to operate it and the aim is to have a first plant delivered in 2030.

Also in this episode World Nuclear News's Claire Maden reports on events in India, South Africa and uranium developments in the USA and Australia.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
Finnish municipal decision-makers favourable to SMRs
India's NTPC confirms plans for nuclear subsidiary
South Africa pauses nuclear procurement process

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

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 direct jobs - 9000 workers were on site at peak construction - he says that people can see the benefits of carbon-free energy being produced and understand how important it is for the future of energy in the US and further afield.

The project had many well-documented challenges to overcome - the impact of Fukushima, Westinghouse's Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2017 and the global pandemic - and Williams says there have been many lessons learned which Southern Company is committed to sharing with utilities in the US and other countries as they embark on their own projects. The first lesson, he says, is the need for resilience, which has been demonstrated by the project partners Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power, MEAG Power and Dalton Utilities.

In the World Nuclear News round-up Claire Maden reports on the passing of the ADVANCE Act in the US, Kazakhstan's plans for a referendum later this year on new nuclear, and the latest uranium-mining developments in Niger.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
Commercial operation marks completion of Vogtle expansion
Kazakhstan's nuclear energy referendum to be held this year
Niger revokes mining permit for Imouraren project
Southern Nuclear: Plant Vogtle

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

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 nuclear and renewables manage to decarbonise the electricity sector, he says, the big issue will be what is done to cut carbon emissions from other sources, such as the cement industry, unless wider choices are made. Fressoz is the author of Une nouvelle histoire de l'énergie - which in English will be More and More and More, An All-Consuming History of Energy.

Also in this episode we hear from Ian Chapman, CEO of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, about the achievements of JET (the Joint European Torus) which has ended its 40-year life full of breakthroughs on the fusion front. He explains that there is still much to learn from its decommissioning, with more lessons for future fusion projects as well as for the fission industry.

In the news round-up Claire Maden reports on the US law prohibiting the importation into the USA of unirradiated, low-enriched uranium that is produced in the Russian Federation or by a Russian entity, and Warwick Pipe brings us up-to-date with progress on China's first small modular reactor.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
Jean-Baptiste Fressoz: More and More and More
As JET's vital role celebrated ... could UK rejoin Euratom in 2028?
US President signs uranium import prohibition
Control room commissioned at Chinese SMR

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alex.hunt@world-nuclear.org

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

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 question was the challenge of being able to supply the fuel which would be required for the tripling of nuclear energy capacity which many countries have pledged to aim for as part of their climate change goals. Also in Claire Maden's special report, hear about the use of innovative technologies in the nuclear fuel sector - including machine learning and neural network techniques and laser enrichment.

The fuel cycle event was held alongside the World Nuclear Spotlight event, focused on Kazakhstan and its plans for a nuclear power programme.

The news round-up includes BWXT announcing expansion plans, and International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi outlining why the agency is not pointing the finger of blame over the drone attacks on or near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
Fuel cycle players explore opportunities and challenges
World Nuclear Fuel Cycle 2024
BWXT announces expansion of Ontario manufacturing plant
IAEA's Grossi explains why blame is not being attributed for Zaporizhzhia attacks

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

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 University of Leicester and Account Director for Space and Radioisotopes at the National Nuclear Laboratory in the UK, joins host Alex Hunt to give details on the life-saving and space-exploring projects and explains what value there is hidden within what has long just been seen as a problem.

With the promising early stage clinical trials, and the plans to provide power for a mission to Mars in 2028, the newly discovered value in the legacy material is one of the factors which may be taken into account in plans for the safe longterm disposal of the material. There could yet be future discoveries that more of the material could become valuable in the years ahead, so, suggests Tinsley, being able to dispose of the material in a form that it is retrievable at minimal cost might be a good idea.

Also this month, there is a report on the gathering of leaders and senior government representatives at the first-of-its-kind Nuclear Energy Summit in Brussels, including snippets of what the IAEA's Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi and co-host Belgian PM Alexander de Croo had to say. Plus Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, French President Emmanuel Macron and COP29 host Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
Leaders commit to 'unlock potential' of nuclear
Nuclear Energy Summit Declaration
National Nuclear Laboratory
University of Leicester
Nuclear Energy Summit

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

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 set up NexGen - and the good news that interrupted a Valentine's Day meal in 2014.

As well as outlining the plans and likely timeline for the Rook 1 project - and further exploration in the area - Leigh also gives his thoughts on the global uranium market, and prospects more broadly for the nuclear energy sector in the coming years, including signs of a change of mood in his native Australia.

The World Nuclear News reports this month are from Claire Maden, on India's growing nuclear energy plans, and Warwick Pipe, who covers the recent International Energy Agency's ministerial meeting communique recognising nuclear as one technology for achieving nergy security and decarbonisation.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
NexGen Energy
IEA Ministerial Meeting recognises role of nuclear
India to seek nuclear investors as Kakrapar units inaugurated
Ministerial approval for NexGen uranium project

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

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. Hear how Hinkley Point C managing director Stuart Crooks explained the revision in a message to staff, and also stressed the benefits likely to flow at the replica project at Sizewell C.

There is also a round-up from World Nuclear News's Claire Maden of the raft of encouraging news from the uranium sector, fuelled by soaring spot prices and a generally positive outlook for nuclear power.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
Newcleo
EDF announces Hinkley Point C delay and rise in project cost
Mining to resume at McClean Lake
IAEA's Grossi's UN press conference on Ukraine

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

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