The World Nuclear News team looks back over the most read articles in 2025 - with topics including Canada's ground-breaking SMR project, the 50th World Nuclear Symposium, the eventual signing of a contract for the Czech new nuclear project, China's SMR completing cold testing, and the drone damage to Chernobyl's New Safe Confinement.

Then World Nuclear Association Director General Sama Bilbao y León picks out the key themes of the year, noting the fast-growing interest from the financial sector in investment opportunities in nuclear, plus the declaration from energy users such as Google, Meta and Dow Chemicals to support the goal of at least tripling nuclear energy capacity by 2050.

With a number of projects making progress in countries without recent experience of nuclear construction there has also been a lot of focus on developing supply chains, reflected in the success of the World Nuclear Supply Chain conference held in Poland.

Looking ahead to 2026 there are big set-piece events to look forward to - such as World Nuclear Symposium in London, World Nuclear Supply Chain conference in the Philippines and World Nuclear Fuel Cycle conference in Monaco - with big moments also expected for the first units in Bangladesh and Turkey, a restart for Palisades as well as first concrete due to be poured for Hungary's Paks II project.

Bilbao y León says the "stars are definitely aligned" for nuclear and the coming year "is the moment where the global nuclear industry really needs to be proactive and active and make the most of this opportunity".

She says: "We really need to work together with our governments. We need to work together with the nuclear regulators, with the finance community, with large energy users. And we cannot leave behind civil society. We have seen major improvements in acceptance and interest in nuclear, but we need to continue to be very proactive to engage with civil society, to make sure that no question is left unanswered."

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
Canada's first SMR project: How is CAD20.9 billion cost calculated?
World Nuclear Association

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Episode credit: Presenter Alex Hunt. Reporters Claire Maden and Warwick Pipe. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production

Nuclear energy is now widely seen as one part of the solution to reducing carbon emissions. But how much of a profile did it get at COP30 - the 30th UN Climate Change Conference, held in Belém, Brazil?

Jonathan Cobb, Senior Programme Lead, Climate, for World Nuclear Association, was in Brazil for the event and in this edition he outlines what was achieved, and not achieved, at COP30 and what the significant moments were for nuclear energy.

He looks ahead to the next editions of COP - in Turkey and Ethiopia - before COP33, which will be held somewhere in Southeast Asia in 2028, and which is due to be when all the National Determined Constributions will have to have been submitted, with a new global stocktake document to be agreed.

Also in this edition we hear from Thomas Lamb, CEO of Myriad Uranium, who talks about the history of, and his hopes for, their Copper Mountain project in Wyoming in the USA. He also considers the impact of AI on uranium exploration.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News

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alex.hunt@world-nuclear.org

Episode credit: Presenter Alex Hunt. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production

Johan Svenningsson is Country Chairman and CEO of Uniper Sweden as well as being vice chairman and chairman-elect of World Nuclear Association.

In this edition, Svenningsson talks about what has been an eventful few years for the nuclear energy sector in Sweden, and the current positive mood towards nuclear and plans for new nuclear - "it's fantastic, we're basically talking about nuclear 2.0 in Sweden", is how he puts it.

We also hear about: lessons on modular construction from his previous roles in the oil and gas and the pharmaceuticals industry; life-extension work; decommissioning programmes; and how the construction of a deep geological repository is progressing.

Regarding his role with World Nuclear Association, Svenningsson says nuclear is a unique global industry where people learn from each other and share knowledge: "I don't see any other industry which is that global and which is that integrated - we're all competitors, suppliers, customers but we really focus on, and want, nuclear to be a strong part of the future, greener society."

His priorities for the association are the industry's need to deliver, now that the political and financial conditions are increasingly in place. He says that on the political and regulatory front "we've come a long way. I think nuclear is starting to be more on par with other technologies, but there is still a way to go. People are still talking about renewables or nuclear ... we should look at all these technologies to be fossil free".

Other priorities include the need to attract and train a diverse selection of young talented people to the nuclear industry, and also to develop the supply chain as new nuclear projects begin in emerging nuclear countries, or in established countries restarting their nuclear construction programmes after decades.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
Dismantling of Swedish reactors reaches milestone
Sweden looks to protect nuclear investors from political U-turns
Extended operation of Oskarshamn 3 to be assessed
WNA Board members

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Contact info:
alex.hunt@world-nuclear.org

Episode credit: Presenter Alex Hunt. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production