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Realising the contribution of nuclear energy to achieving net zero carbon emission in 2050 will require raising significant amounts of capital at competitive rates. On the basis of work under the aegis of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) – International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation (IFNEC) Initiative on Nuclear Financing, this report explores a new framework for analysing the cost of capital for nuclear new build projects. Its key insight is that capital costs can be substantially lowered if the different risks pertaining to such projects such as construction risk, price risk or political risk are properly understood, optimally managed and fairly allocated. In a carbon-constrained world, the true capital costs of nuclear energy and other low-carbon generators will also be lower than customarily assumed due to their ability to offset systemic financial risk. The findings of this report apply equally to private and public investments. Governments nevertheless have important roles to play in ensuring credible net zero commitments, implementing frameworks for optimal risk management and by becoming involved as project participants, in cases where they judge that private actors do not realise the full value of a nuclear power project.

This report is the first in the collection New perspectives on financing nuclear new build, highlighting complementary aspects of financing nuclear new build. Other volumes in the series address the financing frameworks and risk allocation strategies proposed or adopted for recent or ongoing nuclear new build projects, environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria and the electricity market design, project management and incentive structures necessary for nuclear new build projects to succeed.

With an electricity system defined by high shares of hydropower, large capacity for interconnection with its neighbours and low carbon intensity, Switzerland is well positioned to attain its objective of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. However, the exact pathway remains the subject of discussion. First, what should the shares of nuclear energy and variable renewable energies such as solar PV and wind be in the energy mix? Second, what degree of electricity trade should Switzerland have with its European neighbours?

New system modelling of different energy policy choices with the Nuclear Energy Agency’s POSY model shows that all considered scenarios are technically feasible. However, relying on variable renewables alone or decoupling Switzerland from neighbouring countries could increase total system costs by up to 250%. Instead, continuing to operate Switzerland’s newest nuclear power plants alongside existing hydropower resources, while maintaining interconnection capacity at current levels, emerges as the most cost-effective option to achieve net zero emissions in 2050. Ample data and technical documentation of a least-cost mixed integer (MILP) modelling with hourly resolution are also provided in order to allow replication, extension and discussion of this study’s findings

Hydrogen is expected to play important roles in decarbonised energy systems, as an energy source for otherwise hard-to-electrify sectors as well as a storage vector to enhance power system flexibility. However, hydrogen is not a primary energy resource and has to be produced using different chemical processes. Water electrolysis, which uses electricity to split water molecules to extract hydrogen, is expected to become a leading solution in this context. Electrolysis will, however, only be a feasible solution

if the electricity used as feedstock comes from low-carbon sources. A significant number of countries are therefore considering a role for nuclear energy in their hydrogen strategies.

This report provides an assessment of the costs and competitiveness of nuclear-produced hydrogen across the hydrogen value chain and explores the impacts of hydrogen production on the overall costs of integrated electricity and energy systems. It shows, in particular, that nuclear energy can be a competitive source to produce and deliver low-carbon hydrogen for centralised industrial demand. The large scale and dispatchability of nuclear power can also improve the cost-efficiency of hydrogen transport and storage infrastructures, and reduce the overall costs of the energy system.

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.

Nuclear energy is an important source of low-carbon electricity and thus plays a significant role in avoiding carbon emissions. It has the potential to decarbonise the global energy sector even further by also providing heat for industrial applications and residential heating, which both continue to run mainly on fossil fuels. More than 65 nuclear reactors around the world (about 15% of the total) with decades of experience demonstrate on a daily basis the feasibility of providing non-electric applications of nuclear energy such as district heating, desalination or other forms of process heat.

In order to further reduce carbon emissions, the share of nuclear reactors used for cogeneration needs to be expanded. However, until recently the economic competitiveness of thermal energy produced by nuclear power plants has been a challenge. Not accounting for climate change impacts, heat produced by gas- or coal-fired power plants has frequently been cheaper. Yet, as fossil fuel prices rise and carbon costs are increasingly accounted for, the economics of nuclear cogeneration begin to look more favourable. A good understanding of the technical realities and economics of nuclear cogeneration, including its implications for electricity and energy systems, is essential to take advantage of this changed environment. This NEA report provides a thorough overview of nuclear cogeneration, with a view to helping energy decisionmakers and interested experts in assessing the costs and benefits of having nuclear energy provide both low-carbon electricity and low-carbon heat.

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 provided by governments includes statistics on total electricity produced by all sources and by nuclear power, fuel cycle capacities and requirements, and projections to 2040, where available. Country reports summarise energy policies, updates of the status in nuclear energy programmes and fuel cycle developments.

In 2020 and 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of electricity security in modern societies. Although the long-term implications for electricity generation are difficult to assess, during the crisis nuclear power continued to support the security of supply and has been, together with renewables, one of the most resilient low-carbon electricity sources. Governments committed to having nuclear power in the energy mix advanced plans for developing or increasing nuclear generating capacity, including plans for small modular reactor and advanced reactors. Further details on these and other developments are provided in the publication’s numerous tables, graphs and country reports.

This publication contains “StatLinks”. For each StatLink, the reader will find a URL which leads to the corresponding spreadsheet. These links work in the same way as an Internet link.

The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Forum on Stakeholder Confidence (FSC) acts as a centre for informed exchange of knowledge and experience regarding stakeholder interaction and public participation in radioactive waste management. It promotes an open discussion among members and stakeholders, across institutional boundaries, and between technical and non-technical actors, in an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect. As such, the FSC is, first and foremost, a learning organisation. FSC members seek to improve their own practice and institutions by uncovering practical knowledge, validating it with those most concerned and with academic feedback, consolidating knowledge and transferring lessons learnt.

Since its foundation in 2000, the FSC has used and developed a set of terminology and concepts. Fostering a Durable Relationship between a Waste Management Facility and its Host Community: Adding Value through Design and Process (NEA, 2007a) included a five-page glossary of terms that appeared central to understanding the innovative concepts put forward in that major report. Then, at the 11th Regular Meeting of the FSC in 2010, it was determined that a new, extensive review of concepts and definitions would be useful in order to inform new FSC members or to elaborate future texts on decision making in radioactive waste management.

The annotated glossary was prepared on the basis of a review of the full range of FSC publications across the past decade, and discussions with the NEA Secretariat and the FSC Bureau.

The glossary was reviewed at the FSC-12 meeting (2011), where the FSC re-examined its key concepts, reaffirming or refining past understanding. In each entry, the key characteristics of the concept are explained and its symbolic dimension described. In some cases, references to other literature are provided. In 2018, the FSC membership decided to update the Glossary and include a new entry on added value. The concept of added value was first discussed in the report Fostering a Durable Relationship between a Waste Management Facility and its Host Community: Adding Value through Design and Process (NEA, 2015).

It was recognised that although the concept has many facets and continues to evolve, a shared understanding of this concept was necessary. It is to be expected that within the coming years and through continuing dialogue, the understanding of certain concepts will evolve further and other terms will come to the fore. The FSC will continue to discuss and update its glossary to maintain it as a living document.