The application and interpretation of the same safety objectives into specific national regulatory requirements and guidance result in significant differences between the same reactor design when deployed in different countries, writes Claude Mayoral. A more harmonised approach to regulation will be needed to enable the widespread deployment of small modular and advanced reactor designs.

Nuclear energy offers a "golden opportunity" to create a cleaner and more equitable world, World Nuclear Association Director General Sama Bilbao y León said today at the World Nuclear Exhibition in Paris. However, she noted there are three major challenges hindering the nuclear industry in making its full potential contribution towards sustainable development and combatting climate change: financing, perception and regulation.

While pledges made during the recent COP26 climate change conference show that governments are committed to limiting the rise in global temperature, the nuclear industry is ready to play its part in achieving those objectives, says World Nuclear Association Director General Sama Bilbao y León.

World Nuclear Association Director General Sama Bilbao y León has called for more action, not more rhetoric, to come out of the ongoing COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland. In a video address, she said the important role nuclear energy plays in combatting climate change still needs more recognition. A transcript of her video message follows.

Nuclear energy provides enormous opportunities to bring about a fast, cost-effective and just decarbonisation, World Nuclear Association Director General Sama Bilbao y León said yesterday in a COP26 event titled The Role of Nuclear Energy in a Net-Zero Future. Innovations in technologies - such as small modular reactors - and new ways of financing projects will help nuclear play its role in decarbonising the world, participants said.

World nuclear generating capacity is set to continue its upward trend with demand for uranium fuel increasing over the period to 2040, according to the projections in the latest edition of World Nuclear Association's Nuclear Fuel Report. Uranium resources are more than enough to meet that demand, but intense development of new projects will be needed in the current decade to avoid potential supply disruptions.

Nuclear reactors generated a total 2553 TWh of electricity in 2020, down from 2657 TWh in 2019, according to the latest World Nuclear Performance Report released by the World Nuclear Association. Despite the small decline, the Association's Director General, Sama Bilbao y León, said "the resilience and flexibility shown by the global nuclear fleet tell a very positive story."

The Swedish government must make a decision on the application to construct a final high-level waste repository and not consider it separately from that for an expansion of the existing Clab interim repository for used fuel, write World Nuclear Association's Director General Sama Bilbao y León and Public Affairs Manager John Lindberg. Dividing the applications, they say, is a political game of 'Fox and Geese' that is extremely unworthy of an established democracy like Sweden.

Nuclear energy must get a fair representation at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties to be held 31 October to 12 November in Glasgow, World Nuclear Association Director General Sama Bilbao y León has said in an open letter to COP26 President Alok Sharma. The full text of the 16 August letter is as follows.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi has called for more Member States to appoint a national focal point on denials of shipment of radioactive materials. Speaking during a webinar organised by the independent Transport Facilitation Working Group and hosted last week by World Nuclear Association, he said having more NFPs would result in the smoother transport of radioactive materials around the globe.

Government leadership and support from policymakers is needed to instill confidence in the investment community towards nuclear energy, Sama Bilbao y León, director general of World Nuclear Association, said yesterday during a side event held as part of the UN Ministerial Thematic Forums for the High-level Dialogue on Energy that will take place in September. The side event - Nuclear energy's contribution to net zero and the sustainable development goals - was organised by World Nuclear Association together with Canadian Nuclear Association, Foratom, the Japan Atomic Industry Forum and the Nuclear Energy Institute, and sponsored by the Clean Energy Ministerial NICE Future initiative.

Global crises like the coronavirus pandemic and climate change can create a strong impetus for the rapid acceleration of new technological development, panellists at a World Nuclear Association Strategic eForum said this week. Governments also have an important part to play in facilitating the right market conditions to enable innovation to flourish, while effective communication is vital in all sectors.