IAEA IN RUSSIA

IAEA - IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano visited Sochi to take part in the opening of the 10th ATOMEXPO nuclear power forum and to inaugurate the third Russia-IAEA Nuclear Management School. While in Sochi, Mr Amano met President Vladimir Putin.

ATOMEXPO is an international forum for discussion on the modern nuclear power industry, organized by Russia's State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM. Industry leaders, representatives of international, national and public organizations, Russian and foreign companies, and experts in this field attend it every year.

"The Agency remains committed to helping the world make optimal use of nuclear technology to generate low-carbon energy for development, and to counter the effects of climate change," Mr Amano said during his speech at the opening.

At the opening too, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Nuclear Energy Mikhail Chudakov talked about the role of nuclear power in the future. He highlighted the IAEA's assistance package for countries considering adopting nuclear power, giving an overview of the IAEA's Milestones Approach and Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review (INIR) missions.

Mr Chudakov discussed the digital future of nuclear power plant control systems, sharing the IAEA's activities related to the design and application of instrumentation and control systems, which monitor all aspects of a nuclear power plant's health.

"We have to keep our eyes on developments [in instrumentation and control systems] and gather sufficient evidence that these technologies and solutions are mature enough for applications in our industry," Mr Chudakov said. "The IAEA stands ready to support the global nuclear community in this crucial field."

More experts in nuclear

In conjunction with the ATOMEXPO forum in Sochi, the week-long Russia–IAEA Nuclear Energy Management School for managers in nuclear organizations took place. The school's aim is to ensure that the next generation of nuclear professionals acquire the knowledge and expertise to manage complex nuclear programmes efficiently and safely.

"Ensuring the availability of highly qualified staff to assume responsibility for the safe, secure and sustainable operation of nuclear facilities in the coming decades is extremely important," Mr Amano said during his opening speech at the school. "We also need to ensure that critical knowledge is not lost when experts retire."

Mr Amano said that sharing and maintaining specialist knowledge is a challenge both in countries with established nuclear power programmes and newcomer countries — countries considering introducing nuclear power.

The IAEA organized the first Nuclear Energy Management School, together with the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, in Trieste, Italy in 2010 and it has since taken place annually in the United Arab Emirates, Japan, the United States, South Africa and Russia. The 21 Nuclear Energy Management Schools held so far have trained more than 700 young professionals from both newcomer and expanding countries. The Schools are open to applicants from all IAEA Member States.

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Earlier:

2018, May, 18, 08:35:00 ROSATOM IS GLOBAL WNN - Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear corporation, signed a series of agreements with overseas companies during the Atomexpo conference and exhibition being held this week in Sochi, Russia. The agreements, with Chile, China, Cuba, Finland, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Spain and Zambia, include the engineering and medical sectors, among others.

2018, May, 16, 11:45:00 GLOBAL NUCLEAR ENERGY WNN - Speaking on the opening day of the conference being held this week in Sochi, Russia, Rising said nuclear energy had a vital role to play in the global energy mix, providing a strong foundation of reliable and low-carbon generation to help support more variable clean energy generation options.

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2018, March, 23, 08:10:00 ASIA NEEDS NUCLEAR WNN - Asia needs nuclear energy to meet its economic, energy and environmental goals, but such plans are still in the development phase in the South East region of the continent, Agneta Rising, director general of World Nuclear Association, said.

2018, March, 9, 13:10:00 NUCLEAR ENERGY WILL UP WNN - Nuclear energy has faced serious challenges in recent years because of several factors: competition from low gas prices, subsidised renewables and slow growth in electricity demand in certain markets. But because of several powerful forces we are seeing signs that this year nuclear energy will come roaring back.

2018, March, 7, 14:30:00 ASIA'S NUCLEAR INCREASING EIA - Nuclear electricity generation capacity in the Middle East is expected to increase from 3.6 gigawatts (GW) in 2018 to 14.1 GW by 2028 because of new construction starts and recent agreements between Middle East countries and nuclear vendors.

2017, December, 15, 12:55:00 NUCLEAR - 2050: 25% WNN - According to the Foratom statement, World Nuclear Association Director General Agneta Rising said: "By 2050, nuclear energy must account for 25% of energy generation if we are to meet our climate targets. With nuclear making up 11% of generation in 2014, an extra 1000 GWe in nuclear capacity will need to be built by 2050. However, meeting this goal will not be easy.