Category: Nuclear Control

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

The Director General also visited the Low Power Research Reactor at the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST). The reactor, which is not yet in operation, will provide technical experience and training opportunities for nuclear scientists and engineers. Mr Grossi underlined the essential role of this facility – the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia — in preparing for the nuclear power programme.

“Saudi Arabia is at the doorsteps of nuclear operation starting with the research reactor and later with bigger facilities,” Mr Grossi said.” The workforce here, the professionals, the women and men that work in the Saudi nuclear sector are perfectly prepared to look toward this new chapter in the life of the Kingdom.”

Saudi Arabia has sought the IAEA’s advice and invited multiple IAEA review and advisory missions on nuclear safety and nuclear power programme development.

“We have a programme of certain milestones that need to be followed and all of this is being applied here,” Mr Grossi said. “When the time comes, you will know that this was done in a very systematic, orderly way. I am very satisfied.”

The country recently announced it will rescind its small quantities protocol for countries with little to no nuclear material and facilities.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

The IAEA Statement on Nuclear Power, released on 1 December at COP28 and supported by dozens of countries, called for active recognition and support for the energy technology. “Resilient and robust nuclear power has the potential to play a wider role in the quest towards net zero carbon emissions, while ensuring the highest level of nuclear safety and security,” statement said.

The IAEA’s annual nuclear power outlook high case projection sees installed nuclear capacity more than doubling to 890 gigawatts by 2050, compared to 369 gigawatts today. This represents an almost 25% increase from the Agency’s estimate in 2020, with its projections revised up for a third consecutive year.  

However, several challenges need to be addressed if nuclear power is to fulfil its potential in helping the world get to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century. These include rising interest rates and commodity prices, the need for a level financial and policy playing field as well as greater regulatory harmonization and industrial standardization, a topic on which the IAEA’s Nuclear Harmonization and Standardization Initiative (NHSI) is advancing global efforts.

The declaration made by more than 20 countries at COP28 on tripling nuclear capacity invited the World Bank, regional development banks and international financial institutions to include nuclear in their lending policies, while underscoring the need for secure supply chains to ramp up deployment of the technology.

In recent years, nuclear power has been included in several national or regional taxonomies on what qualifies as a sustainable investment. However, such moves so far have not influenced the lending principles and policies of banks, including multilateral banks, although some private investment funds appear to be changing their approach. “Achieving a fair and enabling investment environment for new nuclear projects remains an uphill battle,” Mr Grossi said. “We are not at a level playing field, yet, when it comes to financing nuclear projects.”

At COP28, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, French President Emmanuel Macron and Mr Grossi announced that the world’s first Nuclear Energy Summit will be held in Brussels in March 2024 to build on the global momentum behind nuclear power. Around 30 countries are expected to participate in the Summit along with industry leaders, experts and representatives from civil society.

In addition, the Summit will showcase the IAEA’s Atom4NetZero initiative, which  provides decision makers with comprehensive, data-driven energy scenario modelling that also includes the full potential of nuclear power in contributing to net zero emissions. Such studies will be vital to make a credible technical case for governments and investors to support new nuclear projects, Mr Grossi said.

“Today we celebrate the real progress that nuclear power has made in the global climate and energy debate,” the IAEA Director General said. “But we must tackle several challenges if we are to succeed. The Nuclear Energy Summit is the next major event where the world will come together to discuss how we can forge real solutions, so that the lofty pledges made at COP28 can become reality.”

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

The climate crisis has led to growing concern about the effects of a warmer and more acidic ocean on marine life and the people who depend on it. A new project launched on the margins of COP28 by the IAEA and the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) aims to contribute to ocean health by helping to fill the gaps in our knowledge of marine ecosystems.

“Without reliable data, we would not be able to understand marine environments,” said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi at the COP28 side event. “The IAEA is putting all its scientific apparatus to use for the protection of our planet. I welcome that and I am so pleased to work with KISR.”

The project will make use of KISR’s new state-of-the-art research vessel, ‘AlMostakshif’ (‘The Explorer’). The ship is aptly named, as it will venture out onto the high seas to conduct new research on ocean acidification and marine pollution. KISR is already a longstanding partner of the IAEA and acts as a hub in the region for marine environment studies, providing its unique expertise in areas related to water, sediment and ocean organisms.

“The ship is ready, and we are looking to introduce a number of activities with the IAEA and partners in the region to try to address the major issues that impact the region and the world as a whole. We hope this will have an impact on the population, on the future generation to come and the livelihoods of the people living on this planet,” said Sameer Al-Zenki, Executive Director of the KISR Environment and Life Sciences Centre.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Inger Anderson and Executive Secretary of the  United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Vladimir Ryabinin both spoke at the event. They highlighted the damaging impact of pollution and other harmful human activities on the ocean and the importance of accurate monitoring to creating sustainable ocean ecosystems.

The IAEA-KISR ocean health project will further efforts by the IAEA and KISR to train marine scientists to collect and analyse marine samples using nuclear techniques.

By expanding the knowledge of marine ecosystems, scientists can better understand the effects of climate change and provide accurate data that can be used in climate change policymaking.

Peter Thomson, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, praised the project, noting that it would fill a research void. He stressed that, “without a healthy ocean we do not have a healthy planet, and we cannot survive,” drawing attention to the urgency of marine research efforts.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

Some 200 young writers from around the world submitted essays and speeches for the IAEA’s Atoms for Peace and Development Essay Competition. The competition was launched to commemorate the 70th anniversary of US President Dwight D Eisenhower’s ‘Atoms for Peace’ speech delivered on 8 December 1953 to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. It was this speech that  laid the foundation for the establishment of the IAEA in 1957.

The winner is 20-year-old Nela Gawrychowska, who took inspiration from the words of Eisenhower and two-time Nobel prize-winner Marie Skłodowska-Curie to outline her thoughts on fusion energy, writing that it could become “a potential catalyst for a sustainable, prosperous, and inclusive future”.

An honourable mention goes to 20-year-old Mahek Arora, who wrote about the role of nuclear science and technology and its potential to “foster peace, prosperity and cooperation on a global scale”.  

Writers who decided to enter the competition, open to anyone aged 18-24, were encouraged to take inspiration from Eisenhower’s vision and posit ways the IAEA and the international community could address today’s biggest challenges within the mission of “Atoms for Peace and Development”.

The essays submitted were informed by numerous aspects of the IAEA’s work, from safeguards to supporting low-carbon nuclear energy. The most original essays also came up with ways peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology could play an even greater part in promoting peace, climate change mitigation and adaptation, health, and food and energy security.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

As coal consumption continues to rise worldwide despite global efforts to slash greenhouse gas emissions, several countries are eyeing a strategy for using advanced nuclear power including small modular reactors (SMRs) to reduce reliance on the most polluting fossil fuel. At an event today at the IAEA’s Atoms4Climate pavilion, speakers from Canada, Romania and the United States shared their experience and plans repurposing former coal sites for nuclear power—and thereby ensuring a just energy transition by reaping the economic and environmental benefits of switching to this clean and reliable technology.

The Canadian province of Ontario is one of the world’s leading examples of how replacing coal with nuclear can decarbonize electricity production and clean up local air pollution, and was highlighted in the book A Bright Future. The last coal fired electricity plant in Ontario was mothballed in 2014 and replaced with refurbished nuclear reactors that had previously been shut down. The results: electricity generation in Ontario produces about 25 grams of CO2 per kWh, well under levels consistent with the objectives of the Paris Agreement (50 grams), compared with 230 grams of CO2 per kWh previously.

The effort also cleaned up local air pollution. “We turned the sky from orange to blue in a matter of 15 years. How? With renewables as well, but largely on the back of nuclear production,” Pat Dalzell, Executive Director of Corporate Affairs for Bruce Power, which operates the province’s eight nuclear reactors, said at the IAEA event. “Now when you look up at the sky on a hot summer day in Toronto, the sky is blue,” he said, adding that nuclear power facilities in the province account for some 22,000 jobs, with another 5,000 expected to be created when the operating lifetime of existing reactors are extended for several more years.

Coal provides more than one third of the world’s electricity and is responsible for the largest share of CO2 emissions from the energy sector, making its phase-out key to tackling climate change. In both Romania and the United States, there are plans for nuclear power to replace coal as a low carbon primary energy source that provides 24/7 supply security.

Supply chains are also similar for coal and nuclear plants, meaning jobs can be preserved, and some of the existing infrastructure can continue to be repurposed for the nuclear plant. But challenges also need to be addressed related to decontaminating coal sites, and meeting the requirements for nuclear safety and nuclear waste disposal, among other examples.

In Romania, a site in Doicesti that currently hosts a coal plant has been identified as the preferred location for the country’s first SMR deployment. “We are lucky to have a very high percentage of public acceptance (of nuclear power), but we have never been complacent and always worked hard to show that the community is important to us,” Ana Birchall of state nuclear power corporation S.N. Nuclearelectrica said at the event.

In the US, a location in the state of Wyoming near the coal-fired Naughton power plant, which is due to retire in 2025, has been selected as the preferred site for a sodium-cooled fast reactor with a molten salt-based energy storage system. “Displaced coal workers will be able to find employment at the nuclear facility, and the nuclear facility will also be able to employ more people than the coal facility,” said Jason Hansen, a Senior Economist at Idaho National Laboratory.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

Fusion is developing fast and gaining momentum as a climate solution, the IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said at a COP28 event on 1 December 2023 in Dubai, which highlighted the critical turning point reached by fusion energy and the growing consensus that international partnerships in fusion are the way forward.

This increased interest in fusion has been attributed to a multitude of factors, including the growing concern over the impact of climate change and security of energy supply, recent scientific and technology breakthroughs in fusion energy R&D, a significant increase of fusion activities and investments in the private sector, and the path paved by ITER in designing, fabricating, delivering, and assembling components.

The event ­­­– with IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, Christofer Mowry, CEO of US private fusion company Type One Energy and Chair of the Fusion Industry Association Board and Laban Coblentz, ITER Head of Communication – highlighted fusion energy’s increasing technical readiness and strong market interest and the need for increased global collaborations among different stakeholders including governments, private industry, international organizations, NGOs, and investors through the IAEA’s announced World Fusion Energy Group (WFEG).

“This new initiative aims to enhance fusion energy collaboration and drive the discussion on fusion energy development forward, thereby bringing together public and private sectors, industry, academia and civil society in a holistic and collaborative setting to accelerate the fusion energy journey from the experimental stage towards demonstration and ultimately commercialization of fusion energy”, said IAEA Director General Grossi. The inaugural meeting of the WFEG will take place in 2024.

Until quite recently, the fusion private sector was relatively small, with a dearth of available investments for private companies in the field. However, in recent years, the private fusion landscape has seen a drastic increase in both companies and investments. The IAEA World Fusion Outlook and Fusion Industry Association report that private fusion entities continue to grow in number (43 to date), and total private investment in the fusion sector has surpassed US $6 billion.

The companies involved vary in technology, strategies, and levels of funding, but all move the global fusion community a step closer towards a shared goal: the development of fusion as a viable energy source. Governments are stepping up their efforts to engage with private industries to accelerate the path from research to the commercialization of fusion energy and this is leading to significant developments in the field which will support the clean energy transition.  

“The IAEA has a very important role to play in bringing fusion energy to the world, by providing a robust platform which convenes key stakeholders in this endeavour,” said Christofer Mowry. “The fusion community needs the experience and capability which the IAEA provides as a strong global convener in critical areas like regulation, complementing other initiatives announced here at COP28”, Mowry said.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

For the past 28 years, world leaders and environmental activists have convened annually at the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP) with an almost singular focus on variable renewable energy such as solar and wind as the solution to global warming. And since the first COP in 1995, the share of fossil fuels in the global energy supply has remained virtually unchanged at around 80 percent.

Meanwhile, the only energy source along with hydropower that has demonstrated the ability to decarbonize electricity supply on a national scale has mostly been taboo at the global climate gathering.

Until now.

Nuclear power has surged to the top of world headlines at COP28 in Dubai, where leaders from 22 countries on four continents came together on 2 December to announce a  declaration to advance a global aspirational goal of tripling global nuclear energy capacity by 2050 to meet climate goals and energy needs. The landmark declaration invited the World Bank, regional development banks and international financial institutions to include nuclear in their lending, while underscoring the need for secure supply chains to ramp up deployment of the technology.

“After 28 years in the wilderness, nuclear is finally having its moment at the world’s most important gathering on climate change—and not a moment too soon,” said Zion Lights, a former UK spokesperson for the environmental movement Extinction Rebellion. “As someone who once protested against nuclear energy and changed her mind about it, it is heartening to see just how much attitudes to nuclear energy have changed.”

The declaration came amid a flurry of other pro-nuclear power announcements at COP28, hosted by the government of the United Arab Emirates, which is completing construction on a massive four-unit nuclear power plant as part of an ambitious drive to decarbonize electricity production. The Agency led the way on 1 December when Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi unveiled the IAEA Statement on Nuclear Power, backed by dozens of countries. The next day, Mr Grossi, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and French President Emmanuel Macron announced the world’s first Nuclear Energy Summit, to be held in Brussels in March 2024 to maintain the global momentum behind nuclear energy.

“If you want to reconcile jobs creation, strategic autonomy and sovereignty, and low carbon emission, there is nothing more sustainable and reliable than nuclear energy,” President Macron said at that event. France and Sweden have largely decarbonized their electricity production thanks to a mix of nuclear power and hydro—prime examples of industrialized national economies whose greenhouse gas emission levels from power generation are consistent with the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

Net Zero Nuclear, an initiative by the World Nuclear Association (WNA) and the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, supported by the IAEA Atoms4NetZero Initiative launched in COP27, also issued a pledge at a COP28 Presidency event on 5 December that committed the nuclear power industry to a goal of at least tripling nuclear capacity by 2050. “Let’s translate ambition into pragmatic policies, affordable financing for nuclear, and on-time, on-budget delivery of new nuclear energy projects,” said Sama Bilbao y Leon, WNA Director General.

To be sure, COP28 is not the first UN climate summit to feature events and advocates of nuclear power. In his first official trip as IAEA Director General in 2019, Mr Grossi travelled to COP25 in Madrid to make the case for nuclear power, which provides about a quarter of the world’s low carbon electricity. Since then, the IAEA and nuclear advocates have steadily increased their presence at the annual summit, starting at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 and then last year at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt, where the IAEA hosted the event’s first nuclear themed pavilion.

“As a chain reaction from the full success of Atoms4Climate at COP27, six nuclear dedicated pavilions in the Blue Zone and two nuclear pavilions in the Green Zone appeared at COP28,” Wei Huang, Director of the IAEA’s Division of Planning, Information and Knowledge Management, said at the CO28 Presidency event where he read out the IAEA Statement on Nuclear Power. In the statement, the IAEA and its Member States that are nuclear energy producers and those working with the Agency to promote the benefits of peaceful uses of nuclear energy acknowledged that all available low emission technologies should be recognized and actively supported.

Beyond the lofty declarations in Dubai, it remains unclear whether nuclear energy will feature in the final “Global Stocktake”, a key outcome expected from COP28 that will provide a snapshot of where the world stands in its efforts to achieve the objectives of the 2015 Paris Agreement and how countries might seek to rectify any shortcomings. In an initial document published ahead of the conference that provided global views to be considered during the official COP28 negotiations, nuclear energy was mentioned twice in suggestions to accelerate and strengthen financing and international cooperation for its deployment.

In recent years, newbuild nuclear projects in Europe and the United States have suffered construction delays and cost overruns. But projects have been delivered relatively on time and on budget in countries including Belarus, China, Republic of Korea, Russia and the UAE.

Tripling nuclear capacity by 2050 will nonetheless require overcoming major hurdles, including further enhancing international cooperation, creating an enabling policy environment, securing robust supply chains, training a skilled and diverse future workforce, and achieving greater regulatory and industrial harmonization and standardization.

“COP28 has been, in my opinion, a watershed,” Mr Grossi said in Dubai. But he also added in remarks at the summit that “achieving a fair and enabling investment environment for new nuclear projects remains an uphill battle. We are not at a level playing field yet when it comes to financing nuclear projects.”

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

More than 700 million people faced hunger in 2022, according to the United Nations. On 1 December at a joint IAEA-FAO high-level event on the occasion of the 28th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28), IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, together with FAO Director General Qu Dongyu, presented the newly launched #Atoms4Food initiative, intended to alleviate the urgent pressure of climate change on food security by bolstering agricultural production and improving soil and water management through nuclear science.

Side event attendees at COP28 heard how this new initiative builds upon the nearly 60 years of IAEA-FAO collaboration through the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture. It combines the organizations’ unique strengths to the benefit of populations facing hunger. The IAEA, through the Joint Centre, uses nuclear applications to support countries to identify and solve challenges caused by climate change. FAO Director General Qu stressed the importance of nuclear science and technology for evidence-based decision making.

“Food is a basic human right for everyone. We have to produce more with less because of the climate crisis. We need science-based solutions and a technically driven approach to contribute in the future,” said Mr Qu at the side event.

IAEA Director General Grossi elaborated on the IAEA’s approach to supporting Member States and the tangible nature of IAEA-FAO support envisioned under the #Atoms4Food initiative.

“We are going to start with the self-assessments made by countries, because we believe that we need to follow their approaches and what is concerning for them. Then we will roll out tailormade projects and programmes for them,” said Mr Grossi.  “We are moving in a concrete way – not too much talk, but action. We will bring to the countries the solutions they need,” he added.

From food irradiation and climate smart agriculture to plant breeding and insect pest control, side event participants heard first-hand how the effects of climate change are being successfully addressed with nuclear applications. Representatives of China, Mexico, Turkey, the United States of America and Viet Nam provided specific examples of support from both UN organizations.

“The Joint FAO/IAEA Centre has made positive and concrete gains – as is highlighted with drought resistant crops and improved water use efficiency,” said Cary Fowler, United States Special Envoy for Food Security. He went on to underscore the support of the United States for #Atoms4Food: “We welcome this new initiative – it truly builds on the organizations’ strengths – the science of the IAEA and the FAO’s presence on the ground.”

The #Atoms4Food initiative was launched in October 2023 at the World Food Forum in Rome. It is comprehensive in scope and covers crop improvement, animal production and health, soil and water management and crop nutrition, insect pest control, food safety, and public health and nutrition.