JSC Akkuyu Nuclear, a subsidiary of Russia's Rosatom, said today it had received two loans of up to USD200 million and USD100 million, respectively, for a period of seven years from Sovcombank to finance the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey. The loans are being provided on special terms, Rosatom said, including a reduction in the interest rate "when the borrower fulfills its sustainable development covenants". Sovcombank is one of Russia’s 10 biggest banks, with assets totalling RUB1.6 trillion (USD20.27 billion).

The slow-down in the development of nuclear energy globally, as a result of the Fukushima Daiichi accident, poses dire consequences for our fight against climate change, global human health and the resilience of global electricity systems, writes Sama Bilbao y León, director general of World Nuclear Association.

The workshop the International Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency held jointly last week was very timely because the European Union is at an important juncture, and must consider the role of a variety of energy sources in its electricity mix if it is to achieve its decarbonisation goals, said Massimo Garribba, deputy director general of DG-Energy at the European Commission, adding that those sources include nuclear energy.

Hungary is now the sixth European country to bring forward its coal phaseout plan, announcing that it will shut its last remaining coal plant in 2025. Meanwhile Poland says its first nuclear power unit will be built in Gdansk and the second one probably at the site of its Belchatów coal plant.

Decarbonising heat will be essential for global emissions reduction efforts in the coming years, Aiden Peakman of the UK Nuclear Innovation and Research Office told a high-level joint workshop held by the International Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Current generation light-water reactors and next-generation advanced reactors could significantly help in decarbonising the heat sector, he said.

International Energy Agency Director General Fatih Birol today highlighted the role that nuclear power can play in the global fight against climate change. Birol was speaking to delegates on a webinar for the launch of the IEA report Energy Policies of IEA Countries: Japan 2021.

Decarbonising the power sector will not be enough on its own to reach climate goals, a joint high-level workshop held by the International Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency heard yesterday. Applications of nuclear beyond power generation, including the production of low-carbon heat, hydrogen or other synthetic fuels, could significantly expand market opportunities for nuclear power and are especially relevant to achieving global net-zero emissions.

Ten years after the March 2011 earthquake and subsequent accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant resulted in significant disruption to its energy supply, Japan has made visible progress towards realising its vision of an efficient, resilient and sustainable energy system, the International Energy Agency said today. However, it warned the country must act quickly if it is to achieve its ambition of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. The restart of its idled nuclear power reactors will help it reach that goal, the IEA said.

The diplomatic notes Poland and the USA exchanged last year on cooperation in the development of Poland's civil nuclear power programme have officially entered into force, Poland's Secretary of State for Strategic Energy Infrastructure Piotr Naimski told the TOK FM radio station yesterday. This means the USA now has 18 months to prepare both a technology and a financing offer to build nuclear power plants in Poland, he said.

China will have the world's largest nuclear power fleet within a decade, while most of the units in longstanding nuclear regions - Japan, the European Union and the USA - are facing the end of their original 40-year design lifetime, Brent Wanner, lead of World Energy Outlook Power Sector Modelling & Analysis at the International Energy Agency, said yesterday. Without policy support for the long-term operation of the existing fleet, this trend is certain to continue, he told delegates at the High-Level Workshop on Nuclear Power in Clean Energy Transitions, which the IEA held jointly with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions fell by 5.8% in 2020, primarily due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel and economic activities, according to the International Energy Agency. However, after hitting a low in April, global emissions rebounded strongly and rose above 2019 levels in December.

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 Industri on 18 February.