In the communique\u0301 adopted on April 16 at this year\u2019s G7 Ministers\u2019 Meeting on Climate, Energy and Environment, language positive to nuclear energy was conspicuous, and nuclear power is \u201csailing with a tailwind around the world.\u201d In order, however, for existing reactors to be operated longer and for new ones to be constructed, what must the nuclear industry do and what should government do in support?<\/p>\n
The panelists at Session 2 gave various responses to those questions. Director General Yves DESBAZEILLE of nucleareurope said, \u201cEnergy technologies must stand on the same level playing field. It is important politically not to treat renewable energies alone more favorably.\u201d Meanwhile, NIA Executive Director and CEO Tom GREATREX said, \u201cIn the UK, the government strongly promotes nuclear energy and develops various regulatory and financing schemes, in response to which the nuclear industry will have to carry out its projects as scheduled.\u201d Also, NEI Executive Director for Federal Programs and Supplier Relationships, Carol BERRIGAN, said, \u201cThe industry has to continue to operate nuclear reactors and demonstrate excellent results, improve supply chains to be responsive to new demands for nuclear power, and secure workers through fostering human resource development\u2014all of which are essential.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although different countries thus have different responses, they share the idea that the key is having the ability to operate nuclear power plants (NPPs) according to actual demand.<\/p>\n
Representatives from Canada and the UK\u2014both countries where improvement works and projects to construct new plants are being carried out\u2014expressed their recognition as follows: CNA Vice President George CHRISTIDIS said that \u201csupply chains have been substantially strengthened,\u201d while NIA\u2019s Greatrex said that \u201cprojects to follow will have to be secured\u201d in order to strengthen supply chains.<\/p>\n
At the same time, shortages of human resources are now a global issue, with the panelists making relevant observations. NEI\u2019s Berrigan said, \u201cIt is now hard to recruit students majoring in science and engineering. We have reached out to junior high schools and primary schools, asking them to introduce nuclear energy in their classrooms, in order that students might become aware that there are possibilities for\u2014and begin to consider\u2014careers in our field.\u201d Meanwhile, nucleareurope\u2019s Desbazeille said, \u201cThere are many engineers in Europe, including engineering students, but not many join the nuclear industry. We want to show them why they should consider nuclear energy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regarding the same issue, WNA Senior Communication Manager Jonathan COBB said, \u201cAt the time a plant is completed, sufficient human resources must be in place. For that to happen, the industry realizes it must demonstrate the appeal and attraction of nuclear power to the people needed to work in it.\u201d Lastly, NIA\u2019s Greatrex said, \u201cIn Britain, \u2018fair transfer\u2019 for workers is being advocated, called \u2018just transition.\u2019 For example, we are trying to enable those in the oil and gas industry to move to clean industries if they wish. And, to attract attention broadly among the younger generation, it is important that we not only present the importance of nuclear energy, but convey our message with a spirit of hope, including its objectives and missions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The panelists also discussed specific policies for advancing public understanding of nuclear energy. WNA\u2019s Cobb said, \u201cI want people to simply \u2018like\u2019 nuclear in the same way that they simply love someone\u2014without reason<\/em>. Instead of wanting to make them understand it, we should want them to simply embrace it. Many in the nuclear field, having majored in science, present things too technically. But people are mostly not that way. Instead of explaining what nuclear is<\/em>, we should convey what nuclear can do, and how it can change the world.\u201d Also, nucleareurope\u2019s Desbazeille said, \u201cThe recent energy crisis, the invasion of Ukraine, and the climate crisis, taken together, have driven us to recognize that very few options are left. Yet when it\u2019s decided to deploy nuclear energy, there can be 15 to 20 years of lead time before that deployment, which is not politically efficient. Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), in contrast, for which lead times are short, can meet people\u2019s expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in relation to the same issue, NIA\u2019s Greatrex said, \u201cWe should explain what should be explained, but not get too deep into details. Particularly when we are protective, explanations tend to become difficult, dissociating our industry from the people.\u201d NEI\u2019s Berrigan said, \u201cIt is important to convey that nuclear power is part of the quest to ensure the survival of humanity, and there must be diverse messengers. In addition to those in the nuclear industry, we need the younger generation and people in other industries to talk about the advantages of nuclear energy.\u201d Lastly, CAN\u2019s Christidis said, \u201cHaving different types of people spreading the message is indeed important. We have been making efforts in Canada to increase diversity and this has been effective.\u201d<\/p>\n JAIF President Arai, the session moderator, concluded by saying, \u201cToday\u2019s six organizations will tackle the issues and share best practices with each other,\u201d showing his strong determination to build robust, cooperative relationships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the communique\u0301 adopted on April 16 at this year\u2019s G7 Ministers\u2019 Meeting on Climate, Energy and Environment, language positive to nuclear energy was conspicuous, and nuclear power is \u201csailing with a tailwind around the world.\u201d In order, however, for existing reactors to be operated longer and for new ones to be constructed, what must […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":6459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9,1],"tags":[679,67,629,678,505,886,64],"class_list":["post-6456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-industry","category-news","tag-cna","tag-jaif","tag-jaif-annual-conference","tag-nei","tag-nia","tag-nucleareurope","tag-wna"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6456"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6458,"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6456\/revisions\/6458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}