The future of nuclear power in China is promising, Zheng Mingguang, Chief Engineer at China's State Power Investment Corporation told World Nuclear Association's Strategic eForum 2020 yesterday. He believes both the use of large and small-scale reactors will find applications in China beyond just electricity generation.

A major effort to develop and deploy clean energy technologies worldwide is urgently needed to meet international energy and climate goals, particularly in order to reduce carbon emissions from areas beyond the power sector such as transport, buildings and industry, according to a new International Energy Agency report released today. Meanwhile, the Paris-based agency's chief economist, Laszlo Varro, told participants in World Nuclear Association’s Strategic eForum 2020 yesterday that nuclear power "makes the energy transition more cost-effective and more energy secure".

A high-level panel of senior political figures and experts from leading international energy organisations yesterday discussed how nuclear energy can address some of the most pressing issues the world is facing. The discussion took place during the first session of World Nuclear Association's Strategic eForum 2020.

Milestones achieved within a recent two-week period demonstrate what nuclear technology is all about, what it is doing and can do for humanity, Agneta Rising, World Nuclear Association director general, said ahead of the Association's Strategic eForum 2020.

Leaders of World Nuclear Association working groups participated in a webinar yesterday to highlight some of the issues of key importance to the global nuclear industry. These include: harmonisation in reactor licensing; energy market design; safety regulation; and, new applications of nuclear energy. The Industry Gamechangers webinar was a pre-event to the Association's Strategic eForum to be held next week.

Nuclear reactors generated a total 2657 TWh of electricity in 2019, up from 2563 TWh in 2018, and second only to the 2661 TWh generated in 2006, according to a new World Nuclear Association report. This is the seventh successive year that nuclear generation has risen, it noted.

The nuclear energy industry provides more numerous, better-paid and more highly-trained jobs than does the wind power sector, according to a technical position paper published today by World Nuclear Association. It provides around 25% more employment per unit of electricity generated.
 

The COVID-19 pandemic recovery has presented a window of opportunity for governments, according to a White Paper published today by World Nuclear Association. It says recovery plans that include investment in nuclear energy could not only boost economic growth and jobs, but also fulfil climate change commitments and build a clean and resilient energy system.

World Nuclear Association has published a first-of-a-kind Expanded Summary of the latest edition of its biennial nuclear fuel report. The Association is making the summary, which describes the major conclusions of the 2019 edition of the report, freely available.

Nuclear energy should be part of post COVID-19 recovery plans, participants agreed during a webinar held today by the OECD/Nuclear Energy Agency to launch a series of policy briefs. Nuclear energy can not only provide economic and employment benefits, but can also help the world attain a low-carbon energy system and increase energy resilience, they said.

The OECD/Nuclear Energy Agency has today launched a series of policy briefs that examine nuclear energy's role in the post-COVID economic recovery. The policy briefs, to which World Nuclear Association contributed, have four themes: building resilience; job creation; cost-effective decarbonisation; and unlocking finance.

Investing in existing nuclear power plants, new nuclear build and supporting innovation in small modular reactors are among measures set out to support a broad range of clean energy technologies in an energy-focused COVID-19 economic recovery plan released today by the International Energy Agency. Its emphasis for nuclear investment, however, is on existing plants rather than new power units.