6.1. SIDE EVENT 1: NUCLEAR FOR CLIMATE CHANGE: CHINA’S SOLUTION This side event was organized by the China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA), China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) and Tsinghua University. The purpose of the event was to:
Emphasize the importance of nuclear power in China’s efforts against climate change;
Introduce the latest innovations in China to facilitate achievement of climate change goals;
Focus on the High Temperature Reactor (HTR), pool-type heating reactor and other reactor technologies;
Demonstrate China’s determination to continuously improve design and construction abilities and cooperate with other Member States.
6.2. SIDE EVENT 2: MILLENNIAL NUCLEAR CAUCUS
The Millennial Nuclear Caucus (MNC) side event was held to stimulate the interest of young professionals in careers in the nuclear field and to encourage the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, technology and applications to achieve significant future carbon emission reductions.
The event was co-organized by the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE), the U.S. Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna (UNVIE) and the IAEA. The event proceedings were supported by the International Youth Nuclear Congress (IYNC), the United Nations Nuclear Young Generation (UNNYG) Mentoring Programme and Women in Nuclear (WiN–IAEA).
Young professionals met at the MNC to explore nuclear power’s role in carbon free energy production and innovation, and the importance of international collaboration in achieving global decarbonization goals.
Moderated by the IYNC, panellists from the Czech Republic, Japan and Kenya shared perspectives on the ‘Importance of Nuclear for the Future of Clean Energy’, emphasizing nuclear power and hydropower as the foundations of low carbon electricity production.
The UNNYG Mentoring Programme and WiN–IAEA designated 15 lead networkers who met with young professionals during the speed networking session and shared stories of their career and academic trajectories. In addition, the challenges and opportunities in the field were highlighted,as were the motivations to work towards a clean energy future.
6.3. SIDE EVENT 3: LOW CARBON ENERGY SYSTEMS BASED ON NUCLEAR AND RENEWABLES — INTERNATIONAL EXPERTISE AND NATIONAL BEST PRACTICES
Nuclear energy is a low carbon, economically competitive, reliable and flexible source of power production. These characteristics make nuclear energy and renewables complementary in a low carbon energy mix.
In this side event, four speakers presented state of the art scenario modelling and national best practices. J.H. Keppler, from the Division of Nuclear Technology Development and Economics at the OECD/NEA, provided insights into the relative costs of different low carbon energy mixes based on different shares of nuclear and variable renewables. L. Heikinheimo, from the Finnish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, H.E. Ambassador H. Alkaabi from the Permanent Mission of the United Arab Emirates to the International Organizations in Vienna, and J.-J. Coursol from Electricité de France presented their national cases.
6.4. SIDE EVENT 4: IAEA–POWER INVEST: INSIGHTS INTO THE COSTS AND BENEFITS ATTACHED TO INVESTMENTS IN THE POWER SECTOR
PowerInvest is an iLecture based interactive session providing insights into the costs and benefits attached to investments in the power sector. The exercise involved the side event participants. Each participant played the role of a consulting firm (E-Planning, Inc.) advising the ‘Government of Ladonia’, Ministry of Energy and Petroleum on the development of a robust, cost-efficient, environmentally friendly and low carbon energy mix which would fulfill Ladonia’s increasing demand for electricity over the next decades while generating a positive social and economic impact.
During the session, participants were asked to read Ladonia’s country profile and then to suggest a power mix for the country. A simulator was used to assess the impact of participants’
decisions:
Who was able to meet the country’s future electricity needs? To keep the lights on, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Who managed to generate electricity at the lowest cost? With the lowest carbon content?
The side event provided an opportunity to present the IAEA tools, frameworks and publications that could be used to support cost–benefit analyses of investments in the power sector.
6.5. SIDE EVENT 5: THROUGH THE CLIMATE LENS: GROWING SUPPORT FOR A TECHNOLOGY INCLUSIVE APPROACH
Governments and organizations around the world are acknowledging that we must achieve zero net carbon emissions by 2050 if we are going to avoid the most catastrophic effects of a warming planet. To do this, we cannot afford to leave a single low carbon option off the table.
This includes existing and advanced nuclear reactors. A panel hosted by Third Way highlighted perspectives from Japan, UK and USA, as well as from the United Nations and environmental organizations, including how their position on nuclear power has evolved in the context of the climate crisis.
6.6. SIDE EVENT 6: CAPACITY BUILDING IN SUPPORT OF SDGs ON ENERGY AND CLIMATE
This side event brought together panellists from the three international organizations (IRENA, UNIDO and the OpTIMUS community) providing and supporting capacity building for energy planning on one side, and three receiving countries (Argentina, Ghana and Philippines) on the other side. It was noted that through a comprehensive capacity building programme, the IAEA develops and maintains energy system analysis tools and assists Member States enhance local expertise so that countries are able to elaborate their sustainable development strategies. In this effort, the IAEA cooperates with other international organizations and initiatives.
UNIDO elaborated on its programmes of support through subregional energy centres in Africa, the cooperation of countries, and the development of harmonized energy policies. It emphasized the importance of self-funding of the centres that offer services and knowledge development to national experts. A positive experience was shared by Ghana, where energy planning activities are conducted by several State-run commissions/agencies and are already providing support to other countries through, for example, hosting fellowships and helping utilities in the development of master plans.
Through its partnership and country support department, IRENA is looking to generalize national experiences and make them relevant at the regional and global levels. The support programme starts with a scoping mission to identify areas of interventions so that tailor-made activities can be designed and conducted. The collaboration between IRENA and the IAEA has been coordinated through a Practical Arrangement Letter. The outcomes of joint actions have already been apparent in several countries.
Representatives of Argentina and Philippines discussed the importance of following up external capacity building events, the creation of institutional memory and knowledge transfer ine national entities, and the need for continuous education.
The OpTIMUS community representative outlined five governing principles of the energy planning process:
(1) National ownership (achieving broad consensus on strategic objectives and plans and empowering relevant authorities to implement plans).
(2) Coherence and inclusivity (ensuring that strategic decisions taken in the energy sector are consistent with broader economic, social and environmental goals, including SDGs and NDCs under the Paris Agreement).
(3) Capacity (defining the priority of capacity building activities which strengthen the capability of national institutions to take the lead on strategic energy planning).
(4) Robustness (promoting the use of models, analysis and decision support tools that have strong technical and economic foundations, and are capable of dealing with rapidly changing circumstances in the energy sector).
(5) Transparency and accessibility (promoting open access to, and reviewing, planning inputs and encouraging the accessibility of planning outputs to key stakeholders).
6.7. SIDE EVENT 7: INFOGRAPHICS — IAEA DATA VISUALIZATION CHALLENGE
This side event included the demonstrations of winning submissions developed for the IAEA Data Visualization Challenge by teams from around the world, followed by a panel discussion with the winners and experts from the IAEA. The members of the winning teams discussed the data and technology used for their visualizations, explained the main messages of their infographics and how they are related to the theme of the conference.
The IAEA Data Visualization Challenge was a first of a kind competition organized by the IAEA on the development of creative data visualizations, and was organized as part of the conference. During the competition participating teams from around the world submitted projects demonstrating the role of nuclear power in climate change mitigation.
For the purpose of the competition, data visualization was defined as the visual representation of data that effectively communicates information. The following guidelines were given to the participating teams:
The best data visualizations rely on less text and are intuitively designed.
Submission formats could include, but were not limited to, interactive data visuals, posters, apps, videos, etc.
Submissions could be interactive, dynamic, or static.
Submissions were evaluated on the basis of the following criteria:
Innovation and creativity: The submitted work was expected to be an innovative, original work combining rich visuals (which should be given primary attention) and background text or speech (for videos and other dynamic representations) providing necessary explanations and context.
Logic: The depth of thinking and research behind the visualization and logical structure of its arguments.
Message: Strength of the message conveyed by the visualization.
Data: The relevance, quality and reliability of the data on which the visualization is based. Transparency regarding the assumptions and the ways the data was processed.
The IAEA received nine submissions from different Member States to participate in the challenge. The Selection Committee, consisting of the Scientific Secretaries of the conference and the IAEA staff involved in data visualization activities, noted the high quality of the submissions received and thanked all participants of the Data Visualization Challenge for their contributions. After careful consideration, the Selection Committee chose the following three submissions as the winners of the Challenge:
E. Varseev and I. Andriushin (Rosatom Tech, Russian Federation).
The award was given for the innovative dynamic representation of international energy and economy statistics, placing nuclear power in the context of economic development, electricity consumption and CO2 emissions.
H. Jung (Chungnam National University, Republic of Korea).
The award was given for creative visualization of the role of nuclear power in generating clean electricity, while using PRIS data, with NPPs represented as ‘planets’ and clean electricity generation as ‘trees’.
M. Ho (Canada).
The award was given for the clear and informative representation of the role of nuclear power in climate change mitigation, including country level statistics for CO2 emissions avoided, NDCs and the share of nuclear in total energy generation using a variety of sources.
All of the winners were invited to the side event to present their projects and participate in the panel discussion with IAEA staff. The panel consisted of six members: three representatives of the winning teams and three IAEA staff members.
The points discussed during the panel discussion included the efficiency of data visualizations as a way to create trust with the public; specifically, that transparent and factual visualizations can help narrow the gap between the expert community and broader audiences. The participants noted that professionals usually have outreach only in their circle, while data visualizations permit broadening of the audience. Additionally, interactivity was identified as a key feature of data visualizations: professionals and broader audience interested in the topic often do not have enough time to study it in detail — visualizations help users to receive and process information.
Another part of the panel discussion was devoted to data science, machine learning and deep learning . There was broad agreement that these new research areas were highly promising in analysing data in the nuclear area and making connections with sustainable development topics.
6.8. SIDE EVENT 8: ADVANCED NUCLEAR INNOVATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE — UK PERSPECTIVES
The UK Side Event was a panel discussion on the potential for advanced nuclear innovation to contribute to the UK’s 2050 Net Zero target. The event presented policy, regulatory and academic perspectives on advanced nuclear. The Environment Agency’s (EA) presentation
summarized the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process and the changes that had been made to accommodate new nuclear projects. The EA also outlined the work that is currently being carried out on regulating and supporting the development of advanced nuclear technologies (ANTs).
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) presented the UK Government’s work on decarbonizing energy, drawing emphasis to the UK’s legally binding commitment to Net Zero emissions by 2050. The Advanced Modular Reactor (AMR) Feasibility and Development Project Competition was also discussed in this section of the event. The Royal Society’s presentation focused on nuclear co-generation, outlining the wider use of new nuclear to decarbonize space heating, desalination, process heating, hydrogen production and synthetic fuels.
The consensus of the panel was that advanced nuclear technologies are needed to decarbonize energy (electricity, transport and heat) in the UK and regulatory frameworks are being put in place to support their development. Questions from the audience generally focused on prospective timetables for the GDA process and FOAK product delivery. The replies were consistent with UK policy — a GDA takes around four years, subject to the timing and quality of the document submitted. An FOAK SMR could realistically be expected to be completed in the early 2030s, subject to the right financing and policy frameworks being in place. The panellists were also asked to discuss nuclear financing, for which BEIS highlighted the regulated asset base consultation, which is being considered as an alternative model. The key messages from the event remained the UK’s commitment to Net Zero 2050 and the work being done to facilitate ANTs in the UK’s civil nuclear sector.