Recent interest in small modular reactors (SMRs) is being driven by a desire to reduce the total capital costs associated with nuclear power plants and to provide power to small grid systems. According to estimates available today, if all the competitive advantages of SMRs were realised,...

Understanding the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is important for safe and timely decommissioning of the reactors. This objective, together with the development of better computer codes for analysis of severe accidents, was the aim of the benchmark study conducted under...

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...

Each nuclear power plant, fuel cycle facility and nuclear research and test facility that is operating today will eventually reach the end of its useful life and cease operation. During the period of its decommissioning, it is important to properly manage the health and environmental hazards and...

For practical reasons, the consequences of nuclear reactor accidents are often measured in economic terms. Figures currently available, however, show significant discrepancies. For this reason, the NEA created an expert group to investigate the methodologies used in calculating the economic...

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 capital costs of nuclear power plants are essential to enhance the economic viability of the...

Since the accident at Chernobyl in 1986, many countries have intensified their efforts in nuclear emergency planning, preparedness and management. Experience from the NEA nuclear emergency exercises (INEX 1 and INEX 2) indicated a need to improve the international system of communication and...

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 waves and droughts – have already affected the operation of nuclear power plants. Any...