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Issued by the World Nuclear Association
Electricity generation from nuclear power plants is the dispatchable low-carbon technology with the lowest expected costs, according to the Projected Costs of Electricity Generation 2020 report, published today by the International Energy Agency and OECD Nuclear Energy Agency.
World Nuclear Association congratulates all involved with the design, construction and commissioning of the Fuqing 5 Hualong One nuclear power reactor. The unit was connected to the grid at 00:41 local time on 27 November and has started to deliver electricity.
Belarus today joined the growing number of countries using nuclear energy to produce clean, reliable and cost-effective electricity. Unit 1 of the Ostrovets nuclear power plant supplied its first electricity to the Belarusian grid today at 12.03 pm local time.
We welcome the IEA’s recognition of the potential for nuclear energy to play an important role in the transition to a clean energy system and we strongly endorse the IEA’s call for more investment in clean energy, including nuclear energy.
The publication today of The World Nuclear Supply Chain Outlook 2040 provides a market-oriented review of the opportunities and challenges for nuclear power plants and their supply chain, including scenarios for the evolution of nuclear energy over the next two decades.
Background information on topical issues
Agneta Rising's speech at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) International Conference on Climate Change and the Role of Nuclear Power, in Vienna on October 2019, highlighted the need for governments to take action to create the conditions needed to allow nuclear energy to deliver its potential.
Agneta Rising's speech looking back on progress made by the nuclear industry, and looking ahead to future opportunities. The speech was to mark the NEA's 60th anniversary.
Full text of speech made by Agneta Rising to the Energy Commission Members of the Bulgarian Parliament on 25 January 2018.
Germany is projected to miss its 2020 emissions reduction target because it has prioritised closing nuclear plants ahead of closing coal plants.
Although peak generation from solar briefly exceeded generation from nuclear energy on 26 May 2017 in the UK, over the whole day nuclear generated considerably more low carbon electricity. Expanding nuclear offers greater potential for emissions savings.
World Nuclear Association
Published: Thu, 25 Feb 2021 16:31:41 GMT
Virginia's nuclear industry will focus on four key areas of advanced generation technologies, economic development, workforce education, and research and development in order to help meet its carbon-free goals, according to a newly released strategic plan which has been drawn up at the direction of the Virginia government.
Published: Thu, 25 Feb 2021 14:40:03 GMT
France's nuclear safety regulator, the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire, has set the conditions for the continued operation of EDF's 900 MWe reactors beyond 40 years. The regulator said it considers the measures planned by EDF combined with those prescribed by ASN will ensure the safety of the units for a further 10 years of operation.
Published: Thu, 25 Feb 2021 13:34:01 GMT
Exelon Corporation plans to separate its regulated utility and competitive energy businesses into two publicly traded companies, creating the USA's biggest fully regulated transmission and distribution utility, as well as its largest carbon-free power producer.
Published: Thu, 25 Feb 2021 11:52:13 GMT
Cosmin Ghită, CEO of Romanian utility Nuclearelectrica, says a final investment decision for the Cernavoda nuclear power plant expansion project is expected in 2024, with commissioning of unit 3 planned within the next 10 years. According to Agerpres, Ghită told a conference on 23 February that Nuclearelectrica will present a proposal to start the project at its next annual general meeting of shareholders.
Published: Wed, 24 Feb 2021 14:46:08 GMT
Bruce Power's Major Component Replacement project remains on track despite a two-month delay caused by the pandemic, the company said yesterday as it marked the first anniversary of the start of work at Bruce 6.
Published: Wed, 24 Feb 2021 13:34:16 GMT
Unit 4 of the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant, Russia's BN-800 reactor, has been connected to the grid and resumed operations upon completion of scheduled maintenance. For the first time the refuelling has been carried out with uranium-plutonium fuel only.
Published: Wed, 24 Feb 2021 10:08:21 GMT
Given the scale and urgency of the required clean transition combined with the growth of the global energy system, all zero-carbon hydrogen production options must be pursued, energy research and consultancy firm LucidCatalyst stresses in its latest report. The report, Missing Link to a Livable Climate, describes how to decarbonise "a substantial portion" of the global energy system, for which there is currently "no viable alternative", and presents the six actions that are needed.
Published: Tue, 23 Feb 2021 15:30:05 GMT
Days after terminating a three-year investigation into the resilience of the USA's bulk power system, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has announced it will examine the threats to electric reliability posed by extreme weather and climate change. It is also investigating US wholesale natural gas and electricity market activity during last week's extreme cold weather to determine whether any market participants engaged in market manipulation or other violations.
Published: Tue, 23 Feb 2021 15:59:05 GMT
Ukraine's electricity grid needs the construction of new nuclear power units, Yuriy Boyko, the country's deputy energy minister said last week. Speaking to delegates at Atomic Energy: The Future of the Industry on 17 February, Boyko described the importance of at least three new units. Nuclear power plant operator Energoatom published Boyko's comments on its website.
Published: Mon, 22 Feb 2021 15:13:35 GMT
Parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action now have three months within which to navigate the impasse created by a law passed by the Iranian parliament late last year. In a joint statement yesterday, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran confirmed that Iran will stop the implementation of the voluntary measures as envisaged in the JCPoA from tomorrow, thus enabling the AEOI to comply with the law - Strategic Action to Cease Actions and Protect the Interests of the Iranian Nation.
Published: Mon, 22 Feb 2021 16:08:34 GMT
Czech scientists have received a US patent for their discovery that a polycrystalline-diamond coating can significantly protect fuel rods against corrosion during both normal reactor operation and accidents. Researchers from the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics of the Czech Technical University and the Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic obtained an EU patent for the technology in April last year.
Published: Wed, 24 Feb 2021 14:41:38 GMT
Once a poster child for environmentalism, Sweden has now embarked on a retroactive and harmful journey, write Sama Bilbao y Léon, director general, and John Lindberg, public affairs manager, at World Nuclear Association. The following is a translation from Swedish of their article Sverige bör ompröva sin kärnkraftspolitik published by Dagens Industi on 18 February.
Published: Mon, 22 Feb 2021 14:28:08 GMT
A drop in the water levels in the reactor containment vessels of units 1 and 3 at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan has been detected, Tokyo Electric Power Company has announced. The utility said the decreased levels probably indicate that existing damage to the units' containment vessels has been exacerbated by the recent earthquake that struck the region, allowing more water to leak from them.
Published: Fri, 19 Feb 2021 15:20:40 GMT
NASA's Perseverance rover successfully touched down on Mars yesterday, 203 days after being launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The rover, which is powered by a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator developed and fuelled in partnership with the US Department of Energy, will explore the Jezero Crater and collect samples that will eventually be returned to Earth.
Published: Fri, 19 Feb 2021 16:04:05 GMT
The Spanish nuclear regulator has approved the renewal of the operating licence for Iberdrola's Cofrentes nuclear power plant near Valencia until the end of November 2030. The 1064 MWe boiling water reactor, which entered commercial operation in March 1985, is then scheduled to be decommissioned.
Published: Fri, 19 Feb 2021 15:34:47 GMT
The E3 - France, Germany and the UK - has welcomed the prospect of a US and Iranian return to compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The E3 foreign ministers and the US secretary of state held a virtual meeting yesterday to discuss Iran and other pressing issues. It was the second time in this format since Secretary Antony Blinken took office.
Published: Fri, 19 Feb 2021 14:29:05 GMT
Siberian Chemical Combine has signed a contract with CKBM for the manufacture and supply of equipment for the refuelling of the BREST-OD-300 fast reactor demonstration plant. The production, supply and installation supervision of steam generators for the reactor facility will be provided by ZiO-Podolsk Machine-Building Plant. Both CKBM and ZiO-Podolsk are part of the machine-building division of Russia's Rosatom.
Published: Fri, 19 Feb 2021 12:52:10 GMT
The China Experimental Fast Reactor has been restarted and reconnected to the grid, marking its entry into its high-power operation phase. The sodium-cooled, pool-type fast reactor began a refuelling and maintenance outage at the end of July last year, having completed commissioning tests for the power test phase of the reactor, which verified that its performance had met the design requirements under stable conditions and expected transient operating conditions.
Published: Thu, 18 Feb 2021 15:02:45 GMT
The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation are to hold a joint inquiry into the operations of the bulk-power system during the extreme winter weather conditions currently being experienced in parts of the USA. The severe cold weather has contributed to power outages affecting millions of electricity customers.
Published: Thu, 18 Feb 2021 14:52:03 GMT
A near doubling in annual federal appropriated funding levels for core nuclear research and development activities is needed to ensure the commercial deployment of US advanced reactors in the 2030s, a task force commissioned by the American Nuclear Society has concluded. The group said the additional funding will help meet the Biden Administration's climate goals.
Published: Thu, 18 Feb 2021 14:22:43 GMT
The UK, as host of the next round of UN climate talks, must take the opportunity to show how nuclear energy is essential to decarbonisation, Tim Stone, chairman of the Nuclear Industry Association, said at a Westminster Energy Forum conference last week. "In fact, I would go as far as to say: No nuclear? No net zero."
Published: Wed, 17 Feb 2021 12:58:27 GMT
Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it will stop implementing ‘voluntary transparency measures’ under the 2015 nuclear deal. Specifically, Tehran says it will halt snap nuclear inspections outside of its declared sites as of 23 February.
Published: Wed, 17 Feb 2021 14:21:19 GMT
NuScale Power of the USA and Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant - New Build Plc have agreed to evaluate the suitability of NuScale's small modular reactor technology for deployment at the existing Kozloduy nuclear power plant site in Bulgaria. KNPP-NB is a public limited company established to commission new nuclear power capacity at the site.
Published: Wed, 17 Feb 2021 14:17:32 GMT
Nuclear power could produce one-third of the UK’s clean hydrogen needs by 2050, according to the Hydrogen Roadmap agreed by the Nuclear Industry Council last week. The NIC, co-chaired by the minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth and the chairman of the Nuclear Industry Association, sets strategic priorities for government-industry collaboration to promote nuclear power in the UK.
Published: Tue, 16 Feb 2021 16:27:22 GMT
The Nuclear Innovation Alliance and Partnership for Global Security, two US think tanks, today released a joint report defining a comprehensive strategy for the USA to become the global leader in advanced nuclear power. They said the strategy outlines the domestic and international activities that will be required to ensure the USA can lead in the development and deployment of next generation nuclear technologies through collaboration between government, industry, civil society, and other nations.
Published: Tue, 16 Feb 2021 15:46:10 GMT
South African utility Eskom and the National Nuclear Regulator have refuted media reports that the reinforced concrete containment buildings at the Koeberg nuclear power plant have suffered extensive corrosion and would not be able to prevent the release of radiation in the event of a severe accident. They say tests have confirmed the performance of the structures, to which repairs have already been made.
Published: Mon, 15 Feb 2021 14:59:50 GMT
Uniper Sweden, LeadCold and the Royal Institute of Technology are collaborating to explore the possibility of constructing a demonstration LeadCold SEALER lead-cooled small modular reactor at Sweden's Oskarshamn plant site by 2030. The partners have also applied for funding towards building a non-nuclear prototype at Oskarshamn for testing and verifying materials and technology.
Published: Fri, 12 Feb 2021 14:57:04 GMT
Russia's Atommash has begun the manufacture of major components for the first of two VVER-1200 reactors to be constructed at the Xudabao site in China's Liaoning province. Construction of Xudabao units 3 and 4 is expected to begin this year and next, respectively.
Published: Fri, 12 Feb 2021 15:32:10 GMT
The US Department of Energy has been given approval by the Association of American Railroads to begin building and testing the Fortis specialised railcar for the transportation of used nuclear fuel. Fortis is one of two railcars being developed by DOE and could be operational within the next five years.
Published: Fri, 12 Feb 2021 14:56:12 GMT
The US Administration has launched its innovation effort to create American jobs while tackling the climate crisis with the creation of a new working group of the National Climate Task Force and the announcement of a new USD100 million federal funding opportunity to support transformational low-carbon energy technologies.
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