Russia

Workers at the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors (RIAR) in Dimitrovgrad, Russia, have installed what they call the world’s largest multipurpose fast neutron research reactor, or MBIR, at the site. The group on Jan. 18 said the installation of the MBIR, a milestone in the assembly of the reactor facility, was completed 16 months ahead […]

Major French utility Electricite de France SA (EDF) said it will again extend maintenance outages at some of its nuclear reactors by several months, meaning France will continue to import power and putting more strain on the country’s supply of electricity. EDF has returned some nuclear units to service in the past several weeks, but […]

Two countries seeking to expand development of their nuclear power programs have announced new projects. Iranian officials on Dec. 3 said construction of what would be that country’s second nuclear power plant has begun. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s government on Dec. 4 said it is looking for investors to support development of what would be the country’s […]

John Stevens Cabot Abbott, the 19th century American historian perhaps best known for writing History of Napoleon Bonaparte and History of the Civil War in America , is attributed with the quote, “War is the

A wave of retirements for U.S. coal-fired power plants continues, with the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reporting almost a quarter of the nation’s remaining facilities could be shuttered by the end of 2029. The EIA in its preliminary monthly electric generator inventory report released Nov. 7 said that 23% of the nearly 201 GW of […]

The European Investment Bank Group (EIB Group) said it will support an initial investment of €30 billion ($30.2 billion) in loans and equity financing to move the European Union (EU) away from fossil fuels and toward cleaner forms of energy over the next five years. The EIB board of directors on Oct. 26 said a […]

European nations are looking at ways to increase their imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), including from Russia, as concerns about a shortage of natural gas across the European Union (EU) continue ahead

The leader of India’s power sector has said the country is preparing to add as much as 56 GW of coal-fired generation capacity by 2030 in order for the country to meet growing demand for electricity. He also said India must invest in energy storage, in concert with supporting more wind and solar power development, […]

An expert team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has arrived in Kyiv and is readying to inspect Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) for damage from weeks of shelling. The development marks a significant breakthrough for the agency, which has for the past month pleaded with Russia and Ukraine to allow it to […]

Hungary’s nuclear energy agency has issued a license for construction of two reactors for Paks II, a power generation project first launched in early 2014 as part of an inter-governmental agreement between Hungary and Russia. Officials said Paks II would be the first nuclear plant in the European Union to use Rosatom’s Generation III+ VVER-1200 […]

Germany’s government is weighing how the closure of the country’s last three nuclear power plants in December 2022 will affect its grid this upcoming winter as the country scrambles to secure sufficient energy supplies amid a decline in Russian gas deliveries. A formal decision on whether or not to keep  Isar 2, Emsland, and Neckarwestheim […]

(Updated): The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is growing increasingly alarmed by military action at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, warning that artillery shelling at the plant site on Aug. 5 underlines a “very real risk of a nuclear disaster.” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi in a statement on Aug. 6 said new information about […]

A new contractor has been named to finish construction of Turkey’s first nuclear power plant. Russia’s state-owned energy giant Rosatom on July 30 said it had chosen TSM Enerji, a company owned by three Russian groups and incorporated in Turkey, as the project’s new engineering, procurement, and construction lead. The Turkish government has said it […]

July 21, 2022, Buyukeceli, Mersin Province, Turkey – A ceremony dedicated to the start of the construction of the fourth unit at the first nuclear power plant in Turkey was held at the Akkuyu NPP site, signifying the beginning of the main construction phase. The event was held with the participation of Fatih Dönmez, Turkish […]

European leaders should minimize gas use in the power sector and temporarily ramp up coal- and oil-fired generation while accelerating low-carbon sources to guard against energy market turmoil that has grown “especially perilous,” the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on July 18. “I’m particularly concerned about the months ahead,” wrote IEA Executive […]

The French government is prepared to take full control of EDF, one of the world’s largest producers of electricity, as the energy group struggles with increasing debt due to problems with its current and future nuclear power fleet. Élisabeth Borne, who took over as France’s prime minister in May, in her first state-of-the-nation speech to […]

German energy giant RWE will in September acquire Vattenfall’s 1.4-GW Magnum combined cycle gas-fired power station, a project in the Netherlands where work is underway to explore converting one of the three

A leading German economic official said the country must increase the burning of coal for power generation and reduce its use of natural gas to avoid an energy crisis later this year. German Economy Minister Robert Habeck in a statement on June 19 said the country’s move away from receiving natural gas from Russia due […]

The current geopolitical crisis spurred by the Russian invasion of Ukraine should provide a rude awakening in the West to our misguided and flawed policies toward energy development by government and major

The winner of the Philippines’ presidential election earlier this month has made another move in support of reviving nuclear power in that country, holding talks with South Korea about enlisting help to restart a nuclear power plant project that was abandoned nearly 40 years ago. President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. met with Kim Inchul, South Korea’s […]

A long-awaited energy strategy published by the UK government on April 6 lays out bold commitments that tackle Great Britain’s multi-pronged challenges, including achieving net-zero carbon emissions while

Natural gas generation’s future hinges on a precarious and exceptionally volatile set of issues that the conflict in Ukraine intensified. Experts from the full natural gas chain shed light on how that

The Biden administration and the European Commission launched a multi-pronged effort that will dramatically ramp up U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to the European Union (EU) but also reduce overall natural gas demand in the U.S. and EU through “accelerated market deployment” of clean energy measures. The measures are part of strategic energy cooperation […]

Ukraine’s nuclear regulator informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on March 16 that eight of the country’s 15 nuclear reactors were in operation despite the ongoing Russian invasion. Of the four sites with operational units, two of six at Zaporizhzhya, three of four at Rivne, one of two at Khmelnytskyy, and two of three […]

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and ensuing sanctions may have a limited immediate impact on the U.S. nuclear industry, despite its reliance on uranium imports. Potential implications over the longer term, however, require urgent action, officials from the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) said. NEI CEO and President Maria Korsnick told reporters at the ongoing CERAWeek by […]

The war in Ukraine is having a global impact on energy prices, not only driving the cost of oil higher, but also sending coal prices to record levels as demand for the fuel grows during a period of diminished supply. The Newcastle (Australia) futures price of thermal coal for power generation hit $435/ton on March […]

CEOs of energy companies with projects in Russia are facing career-defining leadership moments. What do you do when your corporate investments nearly overnight become politically, economically and socially untenable to your key stakeholders? Within days of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, BP’s Chief Executive Bernard Looney was quick out of the gate to tell the world […]

Eighteen bipartisan U.S. Senators are backing a bill that would direct the president to declare a national emergency and prohibit imports of Russian energy commodities, including crude oil, petroleum products, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and coal. While the measure does not include Russian uranium, a senior Department of Energy official said addressing U.S. reliance on […]

The venerable business of commodity trading, already in the news for the supply chain impacts of COVID, has moved to center stage with the war in Ukraine. Impacts of Russia’s invasion could ripple to manufacturing of all kinds, especially the clean energy transition we need to meet climate goals. COMMENTARY Within the first week of […]

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported on March 4 that Russian forces had taken control of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) site, but that the reactors continued to be operated by the plant’s regular staff and there had been no release of radioactive material. “What we are telling you is confirmed information that […]