EDF Energy, NuGeneration and Horizon Nuclear Power have all stressed their commitment to the UK's nuclear new build program, despite the country's decision to leave the European Union. Nevertheless, the majority vote in favour of 'Brexit' - decided in a national referendum held yesterday - may have implications for investment in new reactors and nuclear research, as well as for the UK's future role in meeting climate change targets, industry participants said.

Despite challenging market conditions, the global nuclear industry delivered a strong operating performance and improvements in construction times of new reactors in 2015, according to a new report from the World Nuclear Association. The report says that if the world is to meet its climate change targets then the rate of new build will need to accelerate.

Politically feasible carbon pricing is not likely to provide the long-term revenue needed to support existing or new nuclear power projects. Instead, project-specific activities should be undertaken to keep existing nuclear in operation and to drive investment in new nuclear power plants - with the cost of these activities recovered as a cost of controlling carbon, writes Edward Kee.

Nuclear capacity is playing a significant part in the ongoing decarbonisation of the economy, Ontario Power Generation's CEO Jeff Lyash told a Canadian senate committee meeting last week.

Global climate goals are "more achievable than previously thought" because of progress in nuclear power plant construction, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), which also called for electricity markets to favour all low-carbon technologies.

Belgium should reconsider its nuclear energy phase-out policy, the International Energy Agency has suggested following a review of the country's overall energy policy. Belgium should adopt a national long-term energy strategy "without delay" in order to decarbonize the economy while ensuring security of supply and affordability of energy, it said.

The pattern of future carbon dioxide emissions from the USA's power sector will depend significantly on whether the US Environmental Protection Agency's proposed Clean Power Plan is implemented, according to the two new scenarios issued by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Global nuclear electricity generation is expected to almost double by 2040, according to the latest projection by the US Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA). Most of this growth will be in the developing world, it said.

The overall benefits of keeping New York's upstate nuclear power plants in operation under the state's Clean Energy Standards program would significantly outweigh the costs, a study by economists at the Brattle Group has found.

The UK's Nuclear Industry Association has welcomed new official data from the Office for National Statistics which it said shows the "vital contribution nuclear power generation makes to the economy". The statistics, released for the first time and part of the low-carbon and renewable energy data series, show nuclear generation and new build activities contributed £3.5 billion to the economy in 2014, with 15,500 people employed full time.

Figures released today by the Department of Energy and Climate Change show that electricity generation in the UK fell by half a percent last year to 337.7 TWh, from 338.9 TWh a year earlier. The change reflected a large fall in generation from coal that was offset by increases from renewables and nuclear, according to DECC's Energy Trends report for March 2016.

Vincent de Rivaz, the CEO of EDF Energy, said today that the Hinkley Point C (HPC) project will "clearly and categorically" go ahead. Giving evidence to the UK parliament's Energy and Climate Change Committee, de Rivaz confirmed that, according to the French economy minister, the repeatedly postponed final investment decision on the project to build two EPR units at the site in Somerset, England would finally be made "by early May". He would not himself give a specific date and said the decision would be made "very soon".