A new generation of nuclear reactor designs is being developed in order to meet the needs of the 21st century. In the short term, the most important objective is to improve competitiveness in the deregulated market. For this purpose evolutionary light water reactors are being developed and...

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 diversity and security of energy supply, as well as lower global climate change risks, the way to...

Structural materials research is a field of growing relevance in the nuclear sector, especially for the different innovative reactor systems being developed within the Generation IV International Forum (GIF), for critical and subcritical transmutation systems, and of interest to the Global...

Materials research is a field of growing relevance for innovative nuclear systems, such as Generation IV reactors, critical and sub-critical transmutation systems and fusion devices. For these different systems, structural materials are selected or developed taking into account the pecificities...

Plutonium and minor actinide burning or recycling in thermal and fast reactors is being studied in many countries with the aim of maintaining and developing fuel cycle options which can be adjusted to changing demands and constraints. The challenge is to move towards an economically and socially...

The unprecedented health emergency and economic crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic risks to be a setback for clean energy innovation efforts at a time in which faster progress is needed. The report quantifies the needs for technology innovation and investment for a cleaner and more...

Japan’s G20 presidency 2019 asked the International Energy Agency to analyse progress in G20 countries towards technology innovation to accelerate energy transitions. The Japan presidency, which began on 1 December 2018 and runs through 30 November 2019, has placed a strong focus on...

The development of smart grids – which the IEA defines as an electricity network that uses digital and other advanced technologies to monitor and manage the transport of electricity from all generation sources to meet the varying electricity demands of end users – is essential if the global...