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Government to provide funding of €100m over four years Prime minster Alexander De Croo said SCK CEN will ‘lead Belgium towards sustainable nuclear energy’. Belgium’s nuclear research centre SCK CEN is to conduct research into small, modular reactors of the future with a budget of €100m over four years from the federal government.

Nuclear research at SCK CEN, at Dol to the northeast of Brussels, has generally focussed on the safety and technical life of reactor components for Belgium’s fleet of seven commercial nuclear power plants.

But Eric van Walle, SCK CEN’s director-general, said the government has decided to invest in research into innovative SMRs, potentially in cooperation with national and international partners.

In a speech to mark SCK CEN’s 70th anniversary, prime minster Alexander De Croo said SCK CEN will “lead Belgium towards sustainable nuclear energy”.

Date: Thursday, 26 May 2022
Original article: nucnet.org/news/sck-cen-gets-go-ahead-for-research-into-next-generation-smrs-5-3-2022

The challenges the nuclear industry faces are largely external and must be overcome if it is to help tackle the existential threat of climate change, panellists in the Nuclear Energy and its Future session of the Reuters Next conference on 11 January said. These challenges include: the notion nuclear is an out-dated technology; the cost of finance; market design; political changes; perceived competition with renewable energy; and the public's misconceptions about radioactive waste.

Date: Friday, 15 January 2021
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/The-real-challenges-to-nuclear-are-external,-says

New-build projects are making progress, but governments are still struggling with finding the right financing package for large reactors The delayed Flamanville-3 is one of three EPR units under construction in Europe. The others are at Olkiluoto in Finland and Hinkley Point in the UK. Photo courtesy EDF. Western Europe

The UK is facing a major challenge to replace its aging fleet of Generation I nuclear power plants, many of which are scheduled to shut down in 2023.

The project by French state utility EDF to build two Generation III EPR units at Hinkley Point C in Somerset is on track for connection to the grid by 2025. Once in commercial operation the two units will provide up to 7% of the total electricity demand. Two similar units are planned for the Sizewell site in Suffolk.

However, press reports have suggested EDF is in “a race against time” to secure a funding deal for Sizewell C as delays risk making the project prohibitively expensive.

According to The Times newspaper EDF has hired Rothschild as financial adviser for the project and says it wants a “definitive way forward” from the government this year so it can start construction in 2022.

Date: Friday, 17 January 2020
Original article: nucnet.org/news/what-lies-in-store-in-2020-1-4-2020