The restart of Japan's nuclear power reactors is "critical" to the success of the country's energy policy, according to the International Energy Agency. However, it says nuclear power can only be restored provided that the highest safety standards can be met and public trust regained.

The Paris Climate Change Agreement crossed the first of two thresholds required for it to enter into force after 31 governments yesterday formally submitted their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

The UK government's approval of EDF Energy's Hinkley Point C project has "blazed the trail" for other nuclear new build developers at home and abroad, delegates at the World Nuclear Association's Annual Symposium heard last week.

The nuclear industry can achieve the momentum required to create an additional 1000 GWe of new capacity by 2050, Agneta Rising, director general of the World Nuclear Association, said yesterday. This target is essential, she said, if the world is to ensure the International Energy Agency's 2 Degree Scenario on climate change.

Uranium mining and milling contribute only a small amount to nuclear energy's already low greenhouse gas emissions, the first comprehensive life cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions produced from Canadian uranium mining operations has found.

Following the Paris climate conference at the end of last year, the energy sector is facing its biggest challenge ever. Countries around the world are searching for pathways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They are looking for the right balance to the trilemma of security of supply, sustainability and competitiveness. Nordic countries can offer some useful lessons, writes Lauri Virkkunen.

Nuclear engineering and climate change experts from Imperial College London have outlined the benefits of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant project in Somerset, England. They have joined the public debate on EDF Energy's project, after new British Prime Minister Theresa May's cabinet announced last week that it wants to review the deal and decide in early autumn whether to commit its support.

Nuclear power and climate change were key topics in a discussion on the potential impacts of the UK's decision to leave the European Union held last month by the Energy and Environment Sub-Committee. The Committee, part of the Parliamentary Select Committee on the European Union, has since published transcripts of the meetings.

Imagining a future energy policy in the event of "blackouts that occurred across Europe in 2018", Jonathan Hart and Brett Longstaffe propose a pan-European nuclear fuel cycle that emerged "out of the necessity for secure, low carbon electricity supplies". In their Spark! Contest winning essay*, the two young engineers write that this new system "stood on three pillars" - a coordinated European strategy , technological developments and a new nuclear message.

The New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) has formally approved a Clean Energy Standard (CES) that explicitly recognises the zero-carbon contribution of nuclear power plants and will help ensure their continued operation as it strives to reach ambitious clean energy goals.

The British government has confirmed the full list of ministerial responsibilities within the newly created Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The list was included in a statement today by Greg Clark, the department's Secretary of State.

The UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change has been scrapped and its brief folded into the newly created Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy department. The formation of BEIS, which was announced yesterday following Theresa May's appointment as the new British Prime Minister, adds energy-related matters to the remit of its predecessor the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.