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This publication examines the legislation and regulations governing the peaceful uses of nuclear energy in eastern European countries. It covers 11 countries from Central and Eastern Europe and 12 countries from the New Independent States:
Albania
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czech Republic
Estonia
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Georgia
Hungary
Kazakhstan
Latvia
Lithuania
Poland
Republic of Moldova
Romania
Russian Federation
Slovak Republic
Slovenia
Ukraine
Uzbekistan
The chapters follow a systematic format making it easier for the reader to carry out research and compare information.
Decommissioning of nuclear facilities and related remedial actions are currently being undertaken around the world to enable sites or parts of sites to be reused for other purposes. Remediation has generally been considered as the last step in a sequence of decommissioning steps, but the values of prevention, long-term planning and parallel remediation are increasingly being recognised as important steps in the process. This report, prepared by the Task Group on Nuclear Site Restoration of the NEA Co-operative Programme on Decommissioning, highlights lessons learnt from remediation experiences of NEA member countries that may be particularly helpful to practitioners of nuclear site remediation, regulators and site operators. It provides observations and recommendations to consider in the development of strategies and plans for efcient nuclear site remediation that ensures protection of workers and the environment.
Experimental facilities in nuclear energy are key to addressing safety issues. The recent loss of some critical infrastructure, from facilities to industry expertise, has therefore become a concern for many countries. In response, the NEA has launched several efforts to address the matter as outlined in this report. Current safety issues, research needs and research facilities associated with currently operating water-cooled reactors in NEA countries are all addressed. Also included is an assessment of the present needs to maintain experimental databases. The Senior Group of Experts on Nuclear Safety Research, which produced this update of the 2007 report on the same issue, noted the success of previous reviews in helping maintain critical infrastructure and make a number of recommendations to preserve key research facilities and capabilities.
Hydrogen has the potential to play an important role as a sustainable and environmentally acceptable energy carrier in the 21st century. This report describes the scientific and technical challenges associated with the production of hydrogen using heat and/or electricity from nuclear power plants, with special emphasis on recent developments in high-temperature electrolysis and the use of different chemical thermodynamic processes. Economics and market analysis as well as safety aspects of the nuclear production of hydrogen are also discussed.
Hydrogen has the potential to play an important role as a sustainable and environmentally acceptable energy carrier in the 21st century. Since natural sources of pure hydrogen are extremely limited, it is necessary to develop technologies to produce large quantities of hydrogen economically. The currently dominant technology for producing hydrogen is based on reforming fossil fuels, a process which releases greenhouse gases. Hydrogen produced by water cracking, using heat and surplus electricity from nuclear power plants, requires no fossil fuels and results in lower greenhouse gas emissions. This conference proceedings presents the state of the art in the nuclear production of hydrogen and describes its associated scientific and technical challenges.
Hydrogen has the potential to play an important role as a sustainable and environmentally acceptable source of energy in the 21st century. Present methods for producing hydrogen are mainly based on the reforming of fossil fuels with subsequent release of greenhouse gases. To avoid producing greenhouse gases, the possibility to use heat and surplus electricity from nuclear power plants to produce hydrogen by water cracking is being investigated. This report presents the state of the art in the nuclear production of hydrogen and describes the scientific and technical challenges associated with it.
Hydrogen has the potential to play an important role as a sustainable and environmentally acceptable energy source in the 21st century. However, hydrogen does not exist as a gas on earth and thus has to be produced from, for example, water or natural gas by different separation techniques. One way to do so would be to use nuclear-produced energy or heat in this separation process. The present publication gives an overview of the advancements in the scientific and technological fields related to the nuclear production of hydrogen.
This comprehensive overview explores the policy issues and other factors affecting the future of nuclear power in OECD countries. It provides a wealth of historical and current information of interest to both energy industry professionals and policy makers. Nuclear power has grown steadily since the early 1960s. Today it provides one quarter of OECD electricity supply from 300 GWe capacity. It is an important contributor to OECD energy security. Existing nuclear plants appear ready to meet the challenges of electricity market competition. The industry has experienced sustained improvements in technical and economic performance. A major advantage of nuclear power is that it produces none of the airborne pollutants or carbon dioxide that fossil-fuelled plants do. Nonetheless, nuclear power must cope with many challenges. New nuclear plants face formidable competition from fossil fuel generation, given nuclear power’s high capital cost and today’s fossil fuel prices. Almost half of OECD countries have placed restrictions on building nuclear power plants. Disposal facilities for high-level wastes are under development, but face technical and political hurdles before they can become operational. Can nuclear power meet these challenges and thrive in future energy markets? Or will its contribution to energy supply ebb in coming years? This book provides a critical assessment of the issues that will shape the answers to these questions.
Nuclear power and hydropower form the backbone of low-carbon electricity generation. Together, they provide three-quarters of global low-carbon generation. Over the past 50 years, the use of nuclear power has reduced carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by over 60 gigatonnes – nearly two years’ worth of global energy-related emissions. However, in advanced economies, nuclear power has begun to fade, with plants closing and little new investment made, just when the world requires more low-carbon electricity. This report, Nuclear Power in a Clean Energy System, focuses on the role of nuclear power in advanced economies and the factors that put nuclear power at risk of future decline. It is shown that without action, nuclear power in advanced economies could fall by two-thirds by 2040. The implications of such a “Nuclear Fade Case” for costs, emissions and electricity security using two World Energy Outlook scenarios – the New Policies Scenario and the Sustainable Development Scenario are examined.
Achieving the pace of CO2 emissions reductions in line with the Paris Agreement is already a huge challenge, as shown in the Sustainable Development Scenario. It requires large increases in efficiency and renewables investment, as well as an increase in nuclear power. This report identifies the even greater challenges of attempting to follow this path with much less nuclear power. It recommends several possible government actions that aim to: ensure existing nuclear power plants can operate as long as they are safe, support new nuclear construction and encourage new nuclear technologies to be developed.
Nuclear Power and Secure Energy Transitions: From Today’s Challenges to Tomorrow’s Clean Energy Systems is a new report by the International Energy Agency that looks at how nuclear energy could help address two major crises – energy and climate – facing the world today. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the disruptions in global energy supplies that it has fuelled have made governments rethink their energy security strategies, putting a stronger focus on developing more diverse and domestically based supplies. For multiple governments, nuclear energy is among the options for achieving this. At the same time, many governments have in recent years stepped up their ambitions and commitments to reach net zero emissions. Nuclear Power and Secure Energy Transitions expands upon the IEA’s landmark 2021 report, Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector. It does so by exploring in depth nuclear power’s potential role as a source of low emissions electricity that is available on demand to complement the leading role of renewables such as wind and solar in the transition to electricity systems with net zero emissions.
In this context, the report examines the difficulties facing nuclear investment, particularly in advanced economies, in the areas of cost, performance, safety and waste management. It considers the additional challenge of meeting net zero targets with less nuclear power than envisioned in the IEA Net Zero Roadmap, as well as what kind of cost targets could enable nuclear power to play a larger role in energy transitions. For countries where nuclear power is considered an acceptable part of the future energy mix, the new report identifies the potential policy, regulatory and market changes that could be implemented in order to create new investment opportunities. It also looks at the role of new technologies, particularly small modular reactors, and their potential development and deployment.
The International Reporting System for Operating Experience (IRS) is an essential system for the international exchange of information on safety related events at nuclear power plants worldwide. The fundamental objective of the IRS is to enhance the safety of nuclear power plants through the sharing of timely and detailed information on such events, and the lessons that can be learnt from them, to reduce the chance of recurrence at other plants. The first edition of this publication covered safety related events reported between 1996 and 1999. This seventh edition covers the 2015-2017 period and highlights important lessons learnt from a review of the 246 event reports received from participating states during those years. The IRS is jointly operated and managed by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The International Reporting System for Operating Experience (IRS) is an essential system for the exchange of information on safety related events at nuclear power plants worldwide. The fundamental objective of the IRS is to enhance the safety of nuclear power plants through the sharing of timely and detailed information on such events, and the lessons that can be learned from them, to reduce the chance of recurrence at other plants.
The first edition of this publication covered safety related events reported between 1996 and 1999. This sixth edition covers the 2012–2014 period and highlights important lessons learned from a review of the 258 event reports received from participating States during those years.
The IRS is jointly operated and managed by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA) and the IAEA.
This fifth report on nuclear power plant operating experience from the IAEA/NEA International Reporting System covering the 2009-2011 period highlights important lessons learnt and is based on a review of the approximately 245 event reports received from the participating countries over this period.
Nuclear power plant life management (PLIM) has become an important issue in the context of changing business circumstances caused by regulatory reform of the electricity market. Specifically, the economic aspect of PLIM is being closely investigated as part of the search for greater competitiveness. It was in this light that the NEA organised an international workshop on "Nuclear Power Plant Life Management in a Changing Business World". The objective of the workshop was to examine the status of PLIM activities in OECD Member countries and to develop a set of recommendations through separate working groups focusing on technology, regulation and business. The workshop also provided an opportunity to exchange information on lessons learned from past successes and failures. These proceedings will be of particular interest to those playing a policy role in the nuclear industry and those in a position to shape future PLIM strategies.
This book, prepared by NEA member country experts, contains data and analyses relevant to nuclear power plant life management and the plants' extended, longer-term operation (LTO). It addresses technical, economic and environmental aspects and provides insights into the benefits and challenges of plant life management and LTO.
Nuclear new build has been progressing steadily since the year 2000, with the construction of 94 new reactors initiated and 56 completed reactors connected to the grid. Among these new reactors are some of the first generation III/III+ reactors of their kind. Drawing on a combination of conceptual analysis, expert opinion and seven in-depth case studies, this report provides policy makers and stakeholders with an overview of the principal challenges facing nuclear new build today, as well as ways to address and overcome them.
It focuses on the most important challenges of building a new nuclear power plant, namely assembling the conditions necessary to successfully finance and manage highly complex construction processes and their supply chains. Different projects have chosen different paths, but they nonetheless share a number of features. Financing capital-intensive nuclear new build projects requires, for example, the long-term stabilisation of electricity prices whether through tariffs, power purchase agreements or contracts for difference. In construction, the global convergence of engineering codes and quality standards would also promote both competition and public confidence. In addition, change management, early supply chain planning and “soft issues” such as leadership, team building and trust have emerged over and again as key factors in the new build construction process. This report looks at ongoing trends in these areas and possible ways forward.
This publication provides comprehensive information on the regulatory and institutional frameworks governing nuclear activities in the United States. It examines the general regulatory regime, including mining, radioactive substances and equipment, nuclear installations, trade in nuclear materials, radiation protection, radioactive waste management, non-proliferation and physical protection, transport, and nuclear third party liability; and has another section covering the institutional framework including regulatory and supervisory authorities, advisory bodies, and public and semi-public agencies.
This publication provides comprehensive information on the regulatory and institutional frameworks governing nuclear activities in the United Kingdom. It examines the general regulatory regime, including mining, radioactive substances and equipment, nuclear installations, trade in nuclear materials, radiation protection, radioactive waste management, non-proliferation and physical protection, transport, and nuclear third party liability; and has another section covering the institutional framework including regulatory and supervisory authorities, advisory bodies, and public and semi-public agencies.
This publication provides comprehensive information on the regulatory and institutional frameworks governing nuclear activities in Turkey. It examines the general regulatory regime, including mining, radioactive substances and equipment, nuclear installations, trade in nuclear materials, radiation protection, radioactive waste management, non-proliferation and physical protection, transport, and nuclear third party liability; and has another section covering the institutional framework including regulatory and supervisory authorities, advisory bodies, and public and semi-public agencies.
This publication provides comprehensive information on the regulatory and institutional frameworks governing nuclear activities in Switzerland. It examines the general regulatory regime, including mining, radioactive substances and equipment, nuclear installations, trade in nuclear materials, radiation protection, radioactive waste management, non-proliferation and physical protection, transport, and nuclear third party liability; and has another section covering the institutional framework including regulatory and supervisory authorities, advisory bodies, and public and semi-public agencies.