Europe's top economy has been under pressure from other Western nations to become less dependent on Russian gas, but its plans to phase out coal-fired power plants by 2030 and to shut its nuclear power plants by end-2022 have left it with few options.

Ukraine informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today that the country’s nuclear power plants were continuing to be operated safely and securely,

Bechtel and Westinghouse are preparing a front-end engineering design (FEED) for a plant on a site chosen by Poland on the Baltic Sea coast, for the Polish Nuclear Power Plant programme. The FEED is partially funded by a grant from the US Trade and Development Agency.

The Ukraine regulatory body, the counterpart, has earlier informed the IAEA that it is maintaining communications with Ukraine’s operational nuclear power plants, which it said are operating safely and securely.

Rosatom said it currently controls over 70% of the nulcear power plant export market. In the past few years alone, unique package agreements have been signed for the construction of eight new units in Egypt and China.

Swedish Modular Reactors has been granted just over SEK99 million ($10.6m) in support of demonstrating a smaller lead-cooled reactor. Solkompaniet Sverige has been granted SEK14.4 million to support demonstrating a smart solar park.

“Nuclear technology has long played a vital role in prominent space missions,” said Mikhail Chudakov, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Nuclear Energy. “But future missions could rely on nuclear powered systems for a much broader spectrum of applications. Our pathway to the stars runs through the atom.”

EDF says it is to raise EUR2.5 billion (USD2.8 billion) to help cover the costs of measures imposed to limit French energy bills and a projected fall in nuclear output.

Russia and Brazil already have ties in the nuclear energy field with a memorandum of understanding signed in 2017 by Rosatom and Brazil’s Electrobras and Electonuclear to promote cooperation in nuclear power.

The recent decision by the European Union to include nuclear power in the Taxonomy showed that nuclear power will be the driving force for decarbonisation.