A robust supply chain is needed to enable new reactors to be built on time, on budget and at the scale needed to meet decarbonisation goals - and major players in the nuclear engineering, procurement and construction sector shared some of the experiences and lessons learned from projects both nuclear and non-nuclear at World Nuclear Symposium 2024.

The USA's nuclear workforce continued to grow in 2023 - but with over 60% of nuclear employees aged between 30 and 60, employers across the industry are reporting at least some difficulty in hiring workers, according to a newly released annual report from the Department of Energy.

Kazatomprom has cut its uranium production guidance for 2025 by 5000 tU, citing uncertainties in sulphuric acid supply - but 2025 production is still expected to be higher than 2024.

Deliveries of natural uranium and other nuclear services to the EU, including imports from Russia, increased in 2023 as utilities continued to diversify their sources of nuclear fuel. But there are still supply chain challenges to face, according to the latest annual report from the Euratom Supply Agency.

The first steam generator for units 5 and 6 of the Kaiga nuclear power plant in India's Karnataka State has completed its journey from L&T's Hazira complex in Gujarat.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Japan's National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology have completed the production of a prototype outer vertical target, one of the key components of the divertor to be used in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. MHI said it is now ready for series production.

At the mid-year point, Canadian uranium producer Cameco said its expectation for uranium deliveries for the year remains unchanged, but Kazakh producer NAC Kazatomprom is increasing its 2024 full year production guidance to reflect the half-year results.

Centrus Energy has received a waiver from the US Department of Energy allowing it to import low-enriched uranium from Russia for delivery to US customers in 2024 and 2025.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems has delivered two high-tech superconducting magnets to a University of Wisconsin experiment on magnetic mirror fusion technology. The magnets are the first products shipped as part of the company's strategy to build magnets not just for its own power plants but also for other promising applications.

A research project is being launched by the Polish Economic Institute to gauge the interest of Polish companies in participating in the construction of the country's first nuclear power plant.

Indian engineering company Larsen & Toubro has shipped the second steam generator destined for the units 5 and 6 of the Kaiga nuclear power plant in Karnataka State.

The US Department of Energy has issued a request for proposals to purchase low-enriched uranium from domestic sources. The request is supported by USD2.7 billion from President Joe Biden's Investing in America agenda to boost the domestic nuclear fuel supply chain.