Speech: Cutting costs with the fleet approach

Replication is the key to reducing the cost of nuclear new-build projects and attracting investment in firm, low-carbon power and heat, Julia Pyke, director of Sizewell C financing & economic regulation at EDF Energy, said last week. The following is an abridged version of her presentation to participants in an OECD-Nuclear Energy Agency webinar on the Paris-based agency’s newly published Policy Brief, Unlocking financing for nuclear energy infrastructure in the COVID-19 economic recovery.

Perspectives 03 August 2020

Speech: Nuclear jobs to help drive economic recovery

In these challenging and increasingly nationalistic times, it is important that leading international organisations seek to overcome institutional barriers and work together to deliver change, Agneta Rising, World Nuclear Association director general, said today. Rising was speaking during an OECD-Nuclear Energy Agency webinar on its newly published Policy Brief, Creating high-value jobs in the post-COVID-19 recovery with nuclear power projects. Publication of the report coincided with World Nuclear Association’s latest technical position paper, Employment in the nuclear and wind electricity generating sectors.

Perspectives 21 July 2020

Viewpoint: The nuclear option in the UK’s clean energy transition

As the UK government dithers on how to approach its Net Zero emissions by 2050 target, Hugo Lidbetter, a partner in energy and natural resources at law firm Fieldfisher, considers the role of nuclear in achieving the country's low-carbon future.

"The Moorside and Wylfa Newydd projects, each of which received hundreds of millions of pounds of private sector development costs, were respectively abandoned and put on hold due to lack of government support. Aside from recognising the role nuclear has to play in a Net Zero energy mix, the most obvious gap is a decision on a new build funding model."

Perspectives 20 July 2020

Speech: The golden thread of sustainable development

Scott Foster, director of the Sustainable Energy Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, describes how energy is the "golden thread" that connects the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, and that nuclear power has a role to play in the energy mix of the future. The following is the text of the presentation Foster gave during the webinar the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency held today to discuss its newly published Policy Brief, Nuclear power and the cost-effective decarbonisation of electricity systems.

Perspectives 16 July 2020

Speech: The resilience of nuclear power

Sama Bilbao y Leon of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency describes how resilience - the capacity to withstand and bounce back from major disruptions - takes many forms at nuclear power plants. The following is an abridged version of the presentation she gave during the webinar the Paris-based organisation held today to discuss its newly published Policy Brief, Building low-carbon resilient electricity infrastructures with nuclear energy in the post-COVID-19 era.

Perspectives 10 July 2020

Viewpoint: Combining the RAB and alliance models for new nuclear in the UK

Using the regulated asset base model has the potential for cost-overrun that can be somewhat addressed through the 'alliance' model, that is, a model based on one unified agreement under which all parties share the benefits and risks, write Vincent Zabielski and Elina Teplinsky, respectively, special counsel and partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.

Perspectives 07 July 2020

Interview: The importance of long-term operation

To coincide with the publication of the World Nuclear Association's technical position paper The Enduring Value of Nuclear Energy Assets, World Nuclear News interviewed the co-chairs of the Long-term Operation Task Force, Michael Baron and Abdou Al Mazouzi.

Perspectives 01 July 2020

Viewpoint: Nuclear's stand-out resilience in an energy crisis

When it comes to energy, global market shocks are good at turning assets into liabilities. Except, that is, when the energy is nuclear, writes Alexander Uvarov, editor-in-chief of AtomInfo.ru.

"The current oil crisis, which erupted against the backdrop of COVID-19, has, according to Scott Lauerman, a spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute, reduced global oil demand from around 100 million barrels per day (prior to the pandemic) to about 30 million barrels a day. It is no wonder then, that such a stark and sudden loss of demand would reduce oil tankers to simple storage containers."

Perspectives 22 June 2020

Viewpoint: How oil & gas majors could turn the tide against global warming

In the early stages of the nuclear power industry, some oil & gas majors entered the uranium industry, but their interest in nuclear power projects is rare, with Total's bid for the Barakah project in 2009 one of the few recent examples. Are these instances historical footnotes, or might there be a role for OGMs in the nuclear power industry today, even considering the current pandemic and overall market conditions, write Amjad Ghori, Melissa Hersh, Edward Kee, Paul Murphy and Xavier Rollat.

Perspectives 12 June 2020

Interview: A young professional’s view of the WNU Summer Institute

Ashot Sargsyan, a lead engineer in the quality assurance department at Armenian Nuclear Power Plant, participated in the World Nuclear University Summer Institute of 2016, in Ottawa, Canada, as a World Association of Nuclear Operators’ scholarship winner.

Perspectives 08 June 2020