Nuclear “worth looking at” for African countries

Nuclear can help Africa generate the energy its people need for economic prosperity, while helping to meet the dual challenge of rapidly growing energy demand and concerns for the environment, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi has said this week. Governments across Africa are devising policies to become middle-income countries in …

Regulators must learn from each other, says head of ASN

Nuclear regulation requires “humbleness and openness”, Olivier Gupta, Director-General of France’s nuclear safety regulator, told OECD Nuclear Energy Agency Director General William Magwood in a WebChat yesterday. Gupta has been Director-General of the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN) since 2016 and has been chair of Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA) since 2019.   “We …

When shutting down the world isn’t enough to fight climate change: Why nuclear? Why now?

This is the third in a series of blogs from the Global Public Affairs webinar Nuclear Power: Part of Canada’s Energy Transition. If you want to learn more from some of Canada’s top nuclear experts, don’t miss the previous blog in this series: What are SMRs? And what is their role in decarbonization and electrification? …

Nuclear power will ‘absolutely’ be politically acceptable again — it’s safer than oil, coal, natural gas

Nuclear energy will “absolutely” be politically palatable, billionaire philanthropist, technologist and climate change evangelist Bill Gates recently told Andrew Ross Sorkin on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” Nuclear power has to overcome a baneful reputation garnered by association with the atomic bomb and radioactive disasters, but it’s a necessary, worthy and surmountable challenge to correct the naysayers, …

Turkey looks to complete 27.5% of Akkuyu nuclear plant by year-end

The 2021 Performance Program of Turkey’s Energy and Natural Resources Ministry has drawn a road map for the completion of the country’s first nuclear power plant, the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), which says 27.5% of the plant will be completed by the end of this year. The program, which outlines the steps that will …

IAEA Discusses Topical Issues of Nuclear Law with Sri Lanka

The IAEA hosted a virtual national seminar on topical issues of nuclear law for Sri Lanka last month. Topics presented and discussed ranged from transparency in nuclear law and the legal provisions for the safety and security of radioactive sources to benefits of the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM), its Amendment …