CONFERENCE REPORT | WORLD NUCLEAR SUPPLY CHAIN
Above left: Sama Bilbao y León, director general of WNA, calls for stability in policies to give the industry long-term confidence to invest Source: WNA
Above right: EDF’s senior vice-president for international nuclear development, Vakisasai Ramany, emphasised that confidence in sustained demand for nuclear is essential Source: WNA
Carl Berglöf, national nuclear new-build coordinator in the Swedish Government, also highlighted the role of governments in “paving the way for nuclear by securing suitable, predictable regulations and financing schemes.” His beliefs were reinforced on Thursday – the day after the conference – with Sweden’s parliament taking a great leap forward by passing a pivotal bill outlining a financial aid model to fund new nuclear reactors. For nuclear to succeed, this kind of governmental
alignment is not optional – it is foundational. Ramany added that “industry players, in turn, must be ready to commit and invest in building out capacity long-term”. Marc Tannenbaum, principal technical executive at
the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), agreed that planning ahead is beneficial. “As we start looking at purchasing all this equipment for nuclear new builds, there is an opportunity to make sure that the information needed to support these facilities long-term is acquired during the construction process, when you’ve got the leverage associated with large spend,” Tannenbaum said, stressing that this will help “avoid spending millions of dollars later” trying to retroactively collect information that is needed to build maintenance and inventory programmes after the facility has opened.
Standardisation and simplification Another clear theme of the conference was the need for standardisation across the entire supply chain. “We need to have streamlined and standardised regulation,” Bilbao y León said, arguing that it is not just a technical necessity, but a strategic enabler that helps unlock supply chain efficiency, lower costs and build trust among financiers. “At the same time,” she noted, “we need to design our reactors in the most standardised and simplified manner”. “Standardisation is important not only at the level of the design, but also in a broader sense,” added Andrei Goicea, policy director at NuclearEurope, pointing to a standardised, common supply chain and knowledge sharing. For industry to take this step, “stop thinking about
your success on an individual project”, Franke urged, “and recognise that a rising tide will raise all boats”.
40 | June 2025 |
www.neimagazine.com
He called on the industry to consolidate standards,
collaborate on best practices and create a more open supply ecosystem to ultimately “bring costs down for the entire industry”.
When one of us wins, all of us win The nuclear sector is shifting from siloed, state-led projects to a globally networked ecosystem. That was the consensus among the participants and speakers at WNSC, with PA Consulting Group’s business transformation leader, Connor Deehan, explaining: “Nuclear is now part of a very complex energy system. New applications – district heating, hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuel, and both on and off-grid electricity solutions – and new geographies turning to nuclear is driving a need for new thinking across industry, from typically state-driven deployment of projects to coordinated programmes involving a complex ecosystem of stakeholders: a mix of government, industry, grid technology providers, consumers and more all working together in a way that we haven’t really worked before under a more vertically integrated model.” “It truly is an ecosystem that we are operating in,” Deehan said, “and collaboration is essential.” Ramany elaborated that this “means moving from isolated project announcements to clear investable pipelines”. Bilbao y León summed up this new mindset: “We need to
behave collectively as an industry and know that when one of us wins, all of us will eventually win.” Introducing the concept of “glocalisation” – balancing
global collaboration with local capability development – she added: “Yes, we need to develop local capabilities and supply chains, but we want to make sure that the entire global nuclear industry can make the most from the growth and economic opportunity from a nuclear power project, and not just one country, region or company capitalising on this opportunity alone.” Ramany closed the circle by outlining what success should look like going forward: “Long-term infrastructure, deep technical expertise and a resilient, scalable supply chain… Now, to succeed, this global effort must be coordinated.” ■
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47
