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

Email newsletter:
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

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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

The COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, was the latest global gathering aiming to agree measures to tackle climate change. Jonathan Cobb, senior programme lead, climate, at World Nuclear Association, was there. In this episode he explains what COP is, what the aims of COP29 were, what was achieved, and what role nuclear energy played.

He also explains why many people's focus was already looking towards COP30 in Brazil - and outlines the nuclear energy-related events held, and agreements signed, at Baku. Notable among these announcements was six more signatories - El Salvador, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Nigeria and Turkey - to the Net Zero Nuclear goal of tripling nuclear energy capacity by 2050.

Also in this edition, Claire Maden rounds up some of the big nuclear energy stories in November, including Russia's decision to restrict uranium exports to the USA, the go-ahead being given for the Hermes 2 molten salt-cooled reactor and China's latest nuclear-powered district heating achievement.


Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
COP29
Net Zero Nuclear
Russia places 'tit-for-tat' ban on US uranium exports
China's first commercial nuclear district heating scheme expands
Hermes 2 construction permits approved by NRC
UK SMR negotiations begin with bidders

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. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production

Martin Cheetham is the station director of the EDF-run Heysham 2 nuclear power plant on the Lancashire coast in northwest England. It has two advanced gas-cooled reactors which were first connected to the grid in 1988. They have a combined power of 1.24 GW and had an initial design life to 2023 before being extended to 2028.

The second unit at Heysham 2 power plant set a record with 940 days of continuous operation from 2014 to 2016 and the plant is now closing in on setting a new record for electricity generated by a nuclear power plant in the UK. As it does so, there are currently checks going on which could see a further extension to its life.

In this episode Cheetham talks about the similarities and differences between nuclear and his earlier work at thermal energy plants, he explains what decisions on Heysham's lifetime extension rest on, and why such decisions are different for the UK's fleet of AGRs compared with pressurised water reactors.

He also highlights the potential for the Heysham site to become home to a new generation of nuclear power, in the form of small modular reactors.

Key links to find out more:
See pictures from inside Heysham 2
World Nuclear News
Kazatomprom, MonAtom join forces in strategic partnership
Preliminary Czech ruling rejects Westinghouse and EDF appeals
Engineering contract for Bulgarian units signed with Hyundai E&C and Westinghouse
Slovenia's referendum on new nuclear cancelled

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

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

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

Global tech giants Microsoft, Google and Amazon have all announced deals which will see them using nuclear energy in the coming years. In this edition we outline what has been announced, why, and also consider the significance for new nuclear energy in the future.

There is also a report from Claire Maden on what was a very timely session at last month's World Nuclear Symposium focusing on connecting end users with 24/7 energy. Those who featured on the panel include Todd Noe, Director of Nuclear & Energy Innovation at Microsoft, Claude Lorea, Cement, Innovation and ESG Director for the Global Concrete and Cement Association, Lou Martinez Sancho, Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President, R&D and Innovation, for Westinghouse and The Nuclear Company's Juliann Edwards.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
Amazon invests in X-energy, unveils SMR project plans
Google and Kairos Power team up for SMR deployments
Constellation to restart Three Mile Island unit, powering Microsoft
How end-users can help drive nuclear new-build

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. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production

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 tripling goal.

Jonathan Cobb, senior programme lead, climate, at World Nuclear Association, explains the significance of the pledge from the 14 institutions - Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Ares Management, Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Brookfield, Citi, Credit Agricole CIB, Goldman Sachs, Guggenheim Securities LLC, Morgan Stanley, Rothschild & Co, Segra Capital Management, and Societe Generale.

But how can that support be translated into firm investments? Well, in this finance-focused episode, we also hear what some of the senior decision-makers said at World Nuclear Symposium earlier in September, about the challenges for private finance in new nuclear, and their ideas for smoothing that path.

Among those featuring are:
Vicki Kalb, Global Head of ESG and Sustainability Research at UBS
Seb Henbest, Group Head of Climate Transition at HSBC
Bill Lacivita, Partner at McKinsey & Company
Ed Cook, Global Head of Capital Markets at BlackRock
Cosmin Ghita, Chief Executive Officer at Nuclearelectrica
Kim Lauritsen, Senior VP, Enterprise Strategy & Energy Markets at
Ontario Power Generation
László Varró, VP, Strategy Insights & Scenarios at Shell International

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
International banks express support for nuclear expansion
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. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production

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

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. 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

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. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production