| FROM THE EDITORS
customer needs. I am looking forward to seeing how the industry evolves in a world where moving to low carbon electricity and heat is vital for us all.
Stephen Tarlton: Top Trumps I started on NEi at the beginning of 2001 as Deputy Editor. Once I became Editor, it was more a case of the magazine leading me, rather than the other way around. A ‘nuclear renaissance’ was under way at the time, but this didn’t lead to a reversal in the industry’s decline. The reality was that the nuclear sector was treading water, just like the magazine was. There were no major nuclear accidents during my NEi
years – but the 9/11 attacks certainly led to the industry becoming more difficult to cover, with more restrictions on what could be shown during plant visits and less willingness to share information. Being ‘on time, on budget’ was already a challenge for me. One memory that stands out was the Top Trump-style cards we produced for our 50th anniversary – as well as being a fun project, it also gave an overview of the industry’s past, present and where we thought it was heading. A brief flick through those cards now provides quite a sobering reminder about just how wrong one can be about the future. And perhaps even the present. We are currently experiencing another renaissance, but
there are two major differences this time. The first – which works in the industry’s favour – is that that there is much more support for nuclear today. The second – which doesn’t – is that the industry is now far more segmented than it was. An environment where national politics are so heavily invested in their respective national nuclear industries can only compromise safety. Sure, there are some changes; for example, today’s leading
nuclear nation (China) was a relative newcomer two decades ago. But it had already begun on its path of nuclear power development back then and there has been little change to that trend in the meantime. So, while there do appear to be differences between today’s renaissance and the one at the start of the millennium, I fear it could just a case of plus ça change. Of course, the potential is there: there is political will, the environmental advantages, the new power-hungry customers, and even the finance. However, at least for the quarter of a century that I’ve spent in the industry, I have not witnessed any significant change of course from the path of stagnation; whether or not the current talk turns into the future walk really is anyone’s guess right now. As for NEi: given that the nuclear industry should survive
for quite a while (in some form or other) along with the fact that accurate and reliable information is becoming increasingly hard to come by, the outlook for NEi looks to me very promising indeed. My very best wishes and good luck for the next 70 years!
Will Dalrymple: A step into the unknown Having moved sideways from editing a construction magazine in another department, I was out of my depth on day one. I found myself publishing 30 or so pages a month without the ability to write even one of the features. Even understanding the articles was a job sometimes. Fortunately, those challenges soon eased. My editorship was split into two halves; the optimism of
the late noughties, when EPR construction projects were blooming across Europe, and then the aftermath, when the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami hit. The tone completely changed after that. I have been fortunate to work with some
fantastic people, who solved problems and opened doors for me. I’m proud to have worked alongside them. Also, I had a ringside seat to the industrial disaster that was Fukushima- Daiichi, and reported on it on a daily or weekly basis. I won’t be doing that again. I remember travelling to the Plim/Plex conference in
Chicago early on in my tenure – only months after having joined. I had to say something to open the event, and approached that brief through humour; specifically the quirky cartoons of Ukrainian reactor engineer Alexey Kovynev who still illustrates the NEi opinion column. Reader, my speech bombed. The Midwestern crowd just did not get it, or him, or me. I remember myself, in sheer desperation, trying to explain the cartoons, to an audience that was absolutely silent. Silent like the grave. SMRs are over-hyped, and I’m not sure that the AI boom,
and all of its energy demand, won’t pop like a bubble. EDF was a sponsor of the 2012 Olympics, and made a big thing about how power from its nuclear stations was green. I remember it used a Union Jack tinted green for this purpose. At that time no one seemed to have gotten that message – or that we would need lots more electricity for decarbonising transport and heating. They have now and I’m still a fan of nuclear, and its people.
Caroline Peachey: A tricky balancing act My time as editor spanned a period of significant industry change, from the ongoing response to Fukushima to the unprecedented disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic was undoubtedly my greatest challenge, both professionally and personally. Reporting on the industry’s response and mitigation measures while working from home with two young children required constant balancing. The pandemic, though challenging, also saw a major
success with the launch of two virtual events: a small and advanced reactor summit and a one-day conference focused on decontamination and decommissioning. Bringing the industry together to share knowledge and lessons learned is something I’m particularly passionate about. I was fortunate to travel extensively while working on
NEi, from the Rokkasho reprocessing plant in Japan to France’s high-level waste underground research laboratory, as well as multiple visits to the ITER site. I also toured reactors at various stages of construction, operation and decommissioning, including Leningrad, Akkuyu, Dounreay, Hamaoka, Dungeness and Hanhikivi. There is definitely growing momentum in the sector. However, despite the clear need for low-carbon, reliable electricity sources, many of the industry’s longstanding challenges remain, including regulatory harmonisation, cost overruns and delays. When I joined NEi as Assistant Editor in 2008, there were
numerous combined licence applications for new reactors in the USA and ambitious plans across Europe. These goals were ultimately curtailed by Fukushima, rising costs and construction delays. Today, we’re in a similar position: with ambitions for fleets of small and advanced reactors, but limited evidence of large-scale, serial new-build programmes outside Russia, the Middle East and parts of Asia. With the growing demand for low-carbon, reliable energy, I believe nuclear power will undoubtedly play a role in future. However, the scale and technologies that will define the nuclear sector remains to be seen. NEi has a proud 70-year history, and I hope it will continue to inform and connect the industry for decades to come. ■
Stephen Tarlton
Will Dalrymple
Caroline Peachey
www.neimagazine.com | March 2026 | 99
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