A low-carbon future - anchored by the strength and resilience of the current nuclear fleet - is within our grasp if we make the right choices today, Nuclear Energy Institute President and CEO Maria Korsnick said in her annual State of the Industry address to the US organisation's Nuclear Energy Assembly in Washington DC.

Each kilowatt-hour of electricity produced by EDF's reactor fleet in France emits the equivalent of less than 4 grams of carbon dioxide, according to a life cycle analysis published by the company. The analysis shows most of these emissions occur in the upstream phases of the life cycle.

Australia has formally pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 43% below 2005 levels by 2030. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government will support a transition to renewable energy, but members of the shadow cabinet are signalling a willingness to include nuclear in the energy debate and a recent poll has found widespread public support.

The European Parliament's environment and economy committees have voted against the inclusion of gas and nuclear in the EU's list of environmentally sustainable investments. The vote, which was indicative of mood rather than having a direct impact, comes three weeks before all MEPs hold their vote to accept, or oppose, the European Commission's plan.

A consortium hoping to use heat from the UK’s proposed Sizewell C nuclear power station to capture carbon dioxide from the air on a giant scale say they have successfully completed a research and development project and are ready to construct a demonstration plant.

The priority for preventing irreversible climate change is decarbonisation, not the creation of energy systems which are 100% dependent on renewables, according to a new report from LucidCatalyst. It says expanding the use of nuclear energy could enable faster progress towards a sustainable and prosperous future for all.

On the same day that the US Department of Energy moved forward with plans for a programme to develop regional clean hydrogen hubs across the USA, Westinghouse Electric Company and Bloom Energy Corporation said they are teaming up to identify and implement clean hydrogen projects across the nuclear industry.
 

Europe cannot be carbon neutral and self-sufficient without nuclear energy, Finland's Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä has said. Nuclear power, he said, offers solutions - such as small modular reactors - for phasing out fossil energy.

Idaho National Laboratory has been selected as one of four national laboratories to take part in a USD38 million decarbonisation initiative. The Department of Energy's Net Zero Labs Pilot Initiative will lay the foundation for net-zero solutions that can be replicated at facilities across DOE, as well as federal government, state and local governments.

Climate change - if left unchecked - could cost the global economy USD178 trillion over the next 50 years, according to a new report from Deloitte. But if the world acts now to rapidly achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century, the transformation of the economy would set the world up for stronger economic growth by 2070.

The US Department of Energy has awarded nearly USD5 million to two separate cost-shared projects that aim to study the use of direct air capture technology at nuclear power plants. The studies - one led by Constellation at its Byron plant, and the other led by Battelle Memorial Institute at Southern Company's Farley plant - ultimately aim to leverage the plants' carbon-free energy to remove CO2 from ambient air.

Doubling domestic nuclear energy production by 2050 is an "ambitious but achievable" national goal that would help the USA achieve 100% clean energy, US think-tank the Nuclear Innovation Alliance said. The organisation is calling for the US Department of Energy to launch an Advanced Nuclear Energy Earthshot as part of its Energy Earthshots initiative to help achieve this.