The brochure provides background information about the NEA.

Nuclear Energy Data is the Nuclear Energy Agency’s annual compilation of statistics and country reports documenting nuclear power status in NEA member countries and in the OECD area. Information prov...

Nuclear Energy Data is the Nuclear Energy Agency’s annual compilation of statistics and country reports documenting nuclear power status in NEA member countries and in the OECD area. Information prov...

Reducing industrial carbon emissions is one of the most difficult challenges on the path to net zero by 2050, due to the magnitude of greenhouse gas emissions from the industrial sector and technolog...

Reducing industrial carbon emissions is one of the most difficult challenges on the path to net zero by 2050 due to the magnitude of greenhouse gas emissions from the industrial sector and technical ...

Nuclear Energy Data is the Nuclear Energy Agency's annual compilation of statistics and country reports documenting nuclear power status in NEA member countries and in the OECD area.

In Meeting Climate Change Targets: The Role of Nuclear Energy, the NEA explores the role of nuclear technologies and their applications toward achieving the globally recognised goal of Net Zero. Gov...

All credible models show that nuclear energy has an important role to play in global climate change mitigation efforts (e.g. IEA, 2021; BNEF, 2021; IIASA, 2021). Despite clear analyses from many sour...

Under the oversight of the Nuclear Development Committee (NDC), the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) continues to work on collecting and analysing the latest technical evidence and industrial experience t...

Independent safety regulation has been a hallmark of the global nuclear power sector from its beginnings. Industry and government have long understood the importance of a predictable and adaptable re...

Efforts to retain knowledge, focus on human capital issues and stimulate technological innovation have thrived since 2019 with the launch of two major activities

The use of medical radioisotopes is an important part of modern medical practice. Many millions of patients around the world benefit from nuclear medicine imaging.

The Global Forum on Nuclear Education, Science, Technology and Policy is led by a Council of Advisors comprised by representatives from about 20 academic institutions in NEA member countries.

Co-Chair: Ian Farnan (left), University of Cambridge and Man-Sung Yim (right), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Strategic Plan serves as a guiding instrument that reflects the priorities of its member countries as the Agency addresses evolving needs in the exploration and a...

Energy markets will be significantly different in the future. The electricity generation system is becoming more diverse with the development of energy-related technologies including renewable energy...

Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are gaining recognition among policymakers and industry players as a promising nuclear technology. SMRs can be defined as nuclear reactors with a power output between 10...

Nuclear power plants are used extensively as base load sources of electricity. This is the most economical and technically simple mode of operation. In this mode, power changes are limited to frequen...

The 2021 SMR Prize Competition brought together 28 students representing different academic and research organisations participating in the NEA Nuclear Education, Skills and Technology (NEST) Small M...

The NEA held a WebChat with H.E. Mohamed Al Hammadi, Chief Executive Officer of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC).

NEA Nuclear Education, Skills and Technology (NEST) Framework session at the Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 201) on 10 February 2021.

Climate change will create specific risks and challenges for nuclear power plants and the electricity system as a whole. Extreme weather events caused by climate change – such as floods, storms, heat...

The NEA spoke with Professor Okamoto, who leads the NEST ARTERD project on the NEST Framework and its objectives.

The Clean Energy Ministerial’s Nuclear Innovation: Clean Energy Future (NICE Future) initiative and the International Youth Nuclear Congress (IYNC) hosted a webinar on Earth Day, 22 April 2021, on Po...

The NEA has established the Global Forum on Nuclear Education, Science, Technology and Policy, which entered into force on 28 January 2021.

A chat with Stephen King, PhD student and NEST Fellow.

A chat with Todd Allen, Chair and Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences at the University of Michigan, and co-lead of the NEST Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) project.

A wealth of technical information exists on nuclear fuel cycle options – combinations of nuclear fuel types, reactor types, used or spent nuclear fuel (SNF) treatments, and disposal schemes – and mos...

New NEA task force on partitioning and transmutation kicks off

This Strategic Plan is intended to guide the NEA as it seeks to meet the evolving needs of member countries in the application and exploration of nuclear science and technology. The plan includes an ...

The NEA held a WebChat with Dr Rita Baranwal, Assistant Secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy in the United States Department of Energy (DOE).

The Council of Advisors to the Global Forum, comprising representatives from academic institutions in NEA member countries, convened on 28 June 2021 to formalise the operational model of the forum an...

In 2021, the NEA and IFNEC organised a series of joint webinars on a number of conceptual and practical issues pertaining to nuclear new build financing. These events aimed to advance ongoing policy ...

Sustainable development is a goal that transcends national boundaries and generations of people. It integrates environmental protection, economic growth and social welfare.

The NEA organised a virtual workshop on 7 October 2021 to explore the opportunities and challenges associated with High-temperature reactors for industrial heat applications.

The Ad hoc Expert Group on Climate Change: Assessment of the Vulnerability of Nuclear Power Plants and Cost of Adaptation (NUCA) is responsible for assesing the vulnerability of nuclear power plants,...

The implementation of the Kyoto Protocol and the application of its "flexible mechanisms" are at the forefront of energy policy debates in most OECD countries. The potential role of nuclear energy in...

The NEA Data Bank organised its second online training session on FISPACT-II from 18 to 28 October 2021. Facilitated by the code developers at the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, the course a...

Insights from the NEST Framework: A chat with Lea Zimmermann, NEST Fellow

The world’s effort to decarbonise is one of the defining challenges for this generation and the window for action is rapidly narrowing. Nuclear energy is playing an important role today and can do mo...

A wave of near-term innovation in nuclear energy promises to revolutionise nuclear safety and economics and open up new applications in hard-to-abate sectors. Small modular reactor (SMR) designs unde...

La mise en oeuvre du Protocole de Kyoto et l'application de ses mécanismes de flexibilité sont au premier plan des débats de politique énergétique dans la plupart des pays de l'OCDE. Le rôle que l'én...

This report reviews how some of the innovative nuclear-fission technologies being developed today attempt to address the challenges facing nuclear energy. It suggests some areas for collaborative res...

Techniquement, les réacteurs nucléaires de fission, qu’ils soient en service ou en cours de construction, peuvent fournir des produits autres que l’électricité. Cependant, alors que les applications ...

Technically, nuclear fission reactors in operation or being built can supply non-electricity products. However, while non-electrical applications have been considered since the very beginning of nucl...

Insights from the NEST Framework: A chat with Larissa Shasko, PhD student and NEST Fellow.

Second exploratory meeting with faculty from universities, 23-24 January 2020

Approximately 60 participants representing 20 academic institutions from NEA member countries and international organisations and networks met on 23 April 2021 for the first formal meeting conducted ...

The NEA Annual Report 2019 provides an overview of the status of nuclear power in NEA member countries and illustrative descriptions of the Agency's activities and international joint projects. 2019 ...

The feasibility and costs of spent nuclear fuel management and the consequent disposal of ultimate waste continue to be the subject of public debate in many countries, with particular concern often e...

The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) in collaboration with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) hosted an international, multi-sector workshop on 14-18 December 2020 on safely regulating inn...

Over the last few years, education, training and knowledge management in nuclear science and technology have been very high priority, topical issues for the international community, notably in the co...

Nuclear Education, Skills and Technology
(NEST) Framework Fellows
Larissa Shasko and Stephen King

Thursday, 8 April 2021 at 15:30-16:30 Paris time

Nuclear skills and education are an increasingly i...

NEA Nuclear Education, Skills and Technology (NEST) Framework session at the Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 201) on 10 February 2021.

Nuclear technology covers diverse subjects such as technology and innovation development of the nuclear fuel cycle and disruptive technologies like additive manufacturing and artificial intelligence....

The NEST Management Board met virtually on 9-10 March 2021 to discuss the ongoing progress made in six NEST Projects and the challenges posed to NEST activities by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

This joint report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) is the ninth in a series of studies on electricity generating costs. As countries work towards ensuring ...

NEA Nuclear Education, Skills and Technology (NEST) Framework Management Board meeting, 16-18 September 2020.

NEA/SEN/HLGMR(2019)2

At the request of its member countries, the NEA became involved in global efforts to ensure an economically sustainable secure supply of molybdenum-99/technetium-99m. This final ...

The "Red Book", is a biennial publication produced jointly by the NEA and the IAEA under the auspices of the joint NEA/IAEA Uranium Group. It is the only government-sponsored publication tracking wor...

This ongoing series on projected costs of generating electricity presents and analyses cost estimates for some 130 power and co-generation (heat and power) plants using coal, gas, nuclear and renewab...

An NEA initiative to accelerate R&D and market deployment of innovative nuclear fission technologies.

The Uranium group's primary area of work is producing the biennial publication of the Red Book. 

Uranium is the raw material used for nuclear energy generation. It is mined and further processed to make up the highly engineered fuel that is used in nuclear reactors.

This workshop series will bring together experts from the nuclear energy, sustainability and financing sectors to discuss approaches for financing sustainable, large infrastructure projects with a fo...

This workbook has been developed to aid reactor and alternative technology operators identify their full costs associated with the provision of irradiation services for 99Mo production. The workbook ...

This document provides guidance to reactor and alternative production technology (e.g., cyclotrons, accelerators) operators on how to undertake full-cost identification and implement full-cost recove...

Adequacy of Funding Arrangements for Decommissioning and Radioactive Waste Management (ADEQ)

^{The Barakah nuclear power plant. Photo: ENEC, United Arab Emirates.}

Description

The workshop on 'Modelling Employment in the Nuclear Power Sector' was held at NEA Headquarters in Issy-les-Moulineaux ...

Attitudes towards plutonium management vary from country to country and from utility to utility: some regard plutonium as a liability and others as a valuable source of energy.

The purpose of this st...

Studies on fast reactors have historically concentrated on their capability to use plutonium produced in thermal reactors as initial fuel, and subsequently their capacity to produce electricity while...

Studies on fast reactors have historically concentrated on their capability of using plutonium produced in thermal reactors as initial fuel, and subsequently their capacity to produce electricity whi...

The quality of the isotopic composition of plutonium fuel degrades as the number of recycles increases in thermal reactors, requiring an increase in the total loading necessary in mixed plutonium-ura...

The quality of the isotopic composition of plutonium fuel degrades as the number of recycles increases in thermal reactors. There are in addition incentives to better utilise fuel by increasing the b...

^{Spent Nuclear Fuel Pool. Photo: Cogema.} 

Description

The NEA study on the “Adequacy of Funding Arrangements for Decommissioning and Radioactive Waste Management” is a part of the Programme of Work of...

The NEA has studied multiple recycling issues associated with various reactor systems fuelled with mixed-oxide (MOX) and published a series of computational physics benchmarks. This has led to improv...

Although the recycling of plutonium as thermal mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel in pressurised water reactors (PWRs) is now well-established on a commercial scale, many physics questions remain. The main quest...

This study analyses the need for adjustments in or new developments of the fuel cycle for Small Modular Reactors.

The NEA encourages governments to take advantage of the post‑COVID‑19 economic recovery to accelerate the energy transition towards meeting climate objectives.

• Post‑pandemic recovery plans to reconc...

Disruptive technologies for nuclear safety applications

The nuclear sector is constantly looking for new technologies that will make nuclear power plants even more reliable, cost-effective and safe.

This study updates the 1985 NEA report and presents a comprehensive analysis of the individual and total costs of the nuclear fuel cycle for a pressurised water reactor (PWR) to be commissioned in th...

The Ad hoc Expert Group on the Economics of Long-term Operation of Nuclear Power Plants is responsible for studying the economics of upgrading and long-term operation of nuclear power plants, for fur...

The goal of the Ad Hoc Expert Group on Physical Limits to the Development of Nuclear Energy is to analyse and document the physical limits, if any, arising from a possible significant increase in nuc...

It is time for action if countries around the world are to meet their decarbonisation and energy security policy goals. Nuclear energy can play a key role in meeting these objectives—if the cost of n...

Sustainable development is a goal that transcends national boundaries and generations of people. It integrates environmental protection, economic growth and social welfare. A key challenge for sustai...

The overall aim of this expert group is to produce a definitive study across NEA member countries of the costs of management and disposal of radioactive waste from the nuclear fuel cycle on a common ...

^{Photo: ShutterStock/Duncan Andison.}

The workshop was held at the International Energy Agency (IEA) Headquarters in Paris on 10-11 December 2013, and gathered nearly 75 invited experts from 14 NEA m...

On 13 April 2018, the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) launched The Full Costs of Electricity Provision.

Electricity production, transport and consumption affect every facet of life. Market prices and pro...

The workshop was held at the NEA Headquarters in Issy-les-Moulineaux on 28-29 May 2013, and gathered nearly 30 invited experts from 10 NEA member countries (Belgium, Finland, France, Japan, Republic ...

This report is based upon an in-depth analysis of research work and published literature on risk perception and communication , public participation in policy and decision making and the evolution of...

1st day 

Overview

The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) are hosting a free webinar on 31 August 2015 at 3:00 pm (CET) to disseminate the findings from the latest edition of...

The Ad hoc Expert Group on Nuclear Energy and Security of Supply, which had been formed to carry out the study, met for the first time on 22-23 November 2007 at OECD/NEA offices in Issy-les-Moulineau...

Extending the lifetime of nuclear power plants is becoming common practice in OECD member countries. While applying for an extended operating licence, most operators are planning technical improvemen...

Albeit remote, the risk of a severe nuclear accident cannot be reduced to zero, carrying the potential to cause grave consequences to the concerned nuclear site and, if offsite radiological releases ...

Under the Paris Agreement, OECD countries agreed to aim for a reduction of their greenhouse gas emissions sufficient to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre...

NEA support for countries interested in calculating their system costs and optimising their electricity system

This expert group was set up to conduct a study, and the overall objective was to identify the key issues addressed by governments for facilitating the financing of nuclear power plants when nuclear ...

The results outlined in the report should lead to new and more comprehensive research on the full costs of electricity, which in turn would allow policy makers and the public to make better informed ...

As part of the work of the NEA Expert Group on "advanced reactor systems and future energy market needs”, a workshop was organised on 4 September 2019 with the objective of better understanding how t...

Under the Paris Agreement, countries agreed to aim for a reduction of their greenhouse gas emissions sufficient to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre‑indu...

It is clear that future nuclear systems will operate in an environment that will be very different from the electricity systems that accompanied the fast deployment of nuclear power plants in the 197...

List of strategic partners for nuclear technology and economics

The objective of the Ad hoc Expert Group is to develop a standardised methodology for assessing the technical and economic case for nuclear cogeneration.

The NEA established the High-level Group on the Security of Supply of Medical Radioisotopes (HLG-MR) in April 2009 to examine the underlying reasons for the global 2009-10 supply shortage and to deve...

The EGLTO was formed to assess the key factors from a policy, technical, operational, regulatory and economic perspective necessary to enable long-term operation decisions of nuclear power plants in ...

^{Aerial view of the Doel nuclear power plant in Belgium. Photo: Alexandre Jacquemin/Creative Commons.}

The sheer size of nuclear projects might be a barrier in some markets where private investors are ...

^{Photo: Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL).}

Description

Nuclear power is capable of supplying large amounts of low‑carbon electricity and heat cost‑effectively while creating a large number of high...

The central aim of this workshop was to explore how insights from the social sciences and humanities can be used to inform the decision-making of practitioners in nuclear energy organisations. The wo...

The central concept of NI2050, beyond technology development aspects, consists of building together, among truly interested parties, pipelines for testing, validation and qualification of technologie...

This expert group was established in 2009 to assess the potential role of nuclear energy in reducing CO2 emissions, particularly in the 2030 to 2050 timescale, and the challenges to be overcome if th...

^{Photo: Shutterstock, Pand P Studio.}

Description

During the COVID‑19 crisis, nuclear power has continued to generate electricity reliably and around the clock, ensuring the continuous resilient oper...

^{Photo: Shutterstock, PopTika.}

The two-day international workshop on the Nuclear Innovation Roadmap (NI2050) was held at the OECD Headquarters in Paris on 7-8 July 2015. It brought together some of ...

NEA News is the professional journal of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). It features articles on the latest nuclear energy issues concerning the economic and technical aspects of nuclear energy, nucl...

^{Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant, Finland. Photo: Framatome.}

A workshop on Innovations in Water-cooled Reactor Technologies was held at NEA Headquarters in Issy-les-Moulineaux on 11-12 February 2015. ...

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 s...

Generation II and III reactors are currently operating all over the world, providing the largest contribution of low-carbon electricity in OECD countries.

Fuel cycle technology and innovation relates to all stages of the nuclear fuel cycle, from the latest uranium enrichment technologies to design and implementation of small modular reactors (SMRs).

The nuclear sector is working on reactors of the future that will be more reliable, cost-effective and safe to effectively integrate in tomorrow's energy and electricity systems.

NEA workshop on the "Nuclear and Social Science Nexus: Challenges and Opportunities for Speaking Across the Disciplinary Divide", 12‑13 December 2019

NEA Ad Hoc Expert Group on Maintaining Low‑Carbon Generation Capacity through Long‑Term Operation of Nuclear Power Plants (EGLTO) meeting, 14‑16 January 2020

Joint NEA/IAEA Group on Uranium meeting, 4‑6 February 2020

NEA Working Group on the Safety of Advanced Reactors (WGSAR) meeting, 23 June 2020.

The group analyses the potential contribution of uranium mining in economic and social development, and explore whether uranium activities are managed to ensure a positive benefit to local and nation...

Environmentally sustainable uranium mining is not just a matter of interest for the uranium-producing companies and countries, but is also of concern to uranium-consuming countries and companies.

This 27th edition of the “Red Book”, a recognised world reference on uranium jointly prepared by the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), provides analyses a...

Over 150 leading stakeholders from more than 30 countries convened at the international conference on "Nuclear energy's role in the 21^st century: addressing the challenge of financing" to discuss the...

The goal of the Committee for Technical and Economic Studies on Nuclear Energy Development and the Fuel Cycle is to provide authoritative, reliable information on nuclear technologies, economics, str...

The competitiveness of nuclear power plants depends largely on their capital costs that represent some 60 per cent of their total generation costs. Reviewing and analysing ways and means to reduce ca...

The goal of the Expert Group on Back-end Strategies (BEST) is to identify aspects of significant importance to countries’ decisions on whether to deploy partially and fully closed nuclear fuel cycles...

L'objectif essentiel des politiques énergétiques des pays de l'OCDE est d'assurer la sécurité d'approvisionnement au meilleur coût tout en respectant l'environnement. Les moyens mis en oeuvre pour at...

Technetium‑99m (Tc‑99m) is the most commonly used radioisotope in nuclear medicine diagnostic scans. It is essential for diagnostic scans of a broad range of body parts, and thus for accurate diagnos...

The Coronavirus (COVID‑19) pandemic has had significant impacts on the global economy and energy sector. It has also underlined the importance of electricity reliability and resilience during major d...

Meeting the growing demand for energy, and electricity in particular, while addressing the need to curb greenhouse gas emissions and to ensure security of energy supply, is one of the most difficult ...

Energy is the power of the world's economies, whose appetite for this commodity is increasing as the leading economies expand and developing economies grow. How to provide the energy demanded while p...

The NEA is examining the regulatory and operational impacts of the crisis, and working closely with its members to enable exchanges of policy approaches and best practices around the world.

The Ad hoc Expert Group on Trends in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle (TNFC) has been set up to investigate trends in the latest progress and the future trajectories in the nuclear fuel cycle.

Environmental remediation activities in uranium mines and mills have become increasingly important in the last few decades due to the large number of facilities which have been taken out of operation...

Environmental activities in uranium mining and milling are becoming increasingly important owing to:

- the stricter requirements for new facilities being imposed by many countries in the form of envi...

Le respect de l'environnement prend une importance croissante dans le secteur de la production d'uranium car :

- les nouvelles installations doivent être conformes aux normes de plus en plus stricted...

Innovation has been a driving force in the successful deployment of nuclear energy and remains essential today for its sustainable future. As nuclear energy is an attractive option for ensuring diver...

Les radioisotopes jouent un rôle de plus en plus important en médecine pour les diagnostics et la thérapie, dans l'industrie et dans la recherche scientifique. Ils peuvent être essentiels pour notre ...

Radioactive isotopes continue to play an increasingly important role in medical diagnosis and therapy, key industrial applications and scientific research. They can be vital to the health and well-be...

Les isotopes radioactifs et stables sont utilisés dans l'ensemble du monde pour de nombreuses applications liées à la médecine diagnostique et thérapeutique, à l'industrie et à la recherche scientifi...

Isotopes, radioactive and stable, are used worldwide in various applications related to medical diagnosis or care, industry and scientific research. More than fifty countries have isotope production ...

The reliable supply of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) and its decay product, technetium-99m (Tc-99m), is a vital component of modern medical diagnostic practices. Disruptions in the supply chain of these radi...

These expert groups have been disbanded. 

Ongoing Working Parties and Expert Groups

Advisory Panel Meetings

Interest in expanding nuclear power to cope with rising demand for energy and potential climate change places increased attention on the nuclear fuel cycle and whether significant moves are being tak...