In the first edition of the new monthly World Nuclear News podcast, Sama Bilbao y León sets out the opportunities and challenges facing the industry - and says many countries are finally becoming serious about nuclear. John Lindberg sorts fact from fiction on radiation, and the uranium sector is in focus as the month’s news is reviewed.

The nuclear industry knows how to throw a good conference and is great at highlighting innovations in safety, waste management and advanced reactors, but too often it is inside the "nuclear bubble", never reaching those influential policymakers and investors whose buy-in will be essential if nuclear is to succeed, writes Eric Meyer, the founder of Generation Atomic, which aims to "energise and empower today’s generations to advocate for a nuclear future".

With the attention of the world focused on events in Ukraine, one of the questions people are asking is about the country’s nuclear power industry.

The debate over sustainable investment rules has highlighted the differences within the European Union on the ideal and/or possible energy mix in a carbon-constrained world where the EU wants to be a role model. It is time to reform the electricity system in Europe, writes Marc Deffrennes, from the weCare alliance of NGOs which favour using renewables and nuclear to limit carbon emissions.

Climate change, energy security, global inequality, new generation reactors, fusion research and, above all, geopolitics. There has never been a more interesting time for World Nuclear News, as it marks its 15th birthday, writes Alex Hunt as he joins the team as its new Editor.

World Nuclear Association commends the recent publication of the Complementary Delegated Act that recognises the fundamental sustainability of nuclear energy and elevates it into the EU’s sustainable finance taxonomy. Now the Commission must demonstrate its commitment to a truly technology neutral framework and make sure that criteria are consistent and scientifically justified, says World Nuclear Association Director General Sama Bilbao y León.

The application and interpretation of the same safety objectives into specific national regulatory requirements and guidance result in significant differences between the same reactor design when deployed in different countries, writes Claude Mayoral. A more harmonised approach to regulation will be needed to enable the widespread deployment of small modular and advanced reactor designs.

Nuclear power can play a key part in addressing African energy poverty while mitigating against climate change and helping to solve the triple threats of poverty, inequality and unemployment, but policymakers, decision takers and the general public need to be educated on its benefits, says Princy Mthombeni.

US electricity grids, especially deregulated grids with auctions, have become fragile and unreliable due to over-dependence on intermittent renewables and just-in-time delivery of natural gas, together with a reliance on imports, writes Meredith Angwin. Nuclear energy, she says, could break the trifecta and prevent rolling blackouts.

Net-zero needs nuclear, UK minister for Energy, Clean Growth and Climate Change Greg Hands told the country's industry at the Nuclear Industry Association's Nuclear2021 conference in London last week in a strong message of support. The following is the text of his speech.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi talks about the Nuclear Saves Partnerships through which industry and others can partner with the Agency to expand its efforts to support development projects in low- and middle-income countries.