Inside JPMorgan’s Investment Bank, Nuclear Hype Raises Concerns.
unrealistic optimism around nuclear power
By Alastair Marsh, October 3, 2025 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-03/jpmorgan-senior-banker-says-nuclear-exuberance-has-him-worried?embedded-checkout=true
Takeaways by Bloomberg AI
Nuclear power plants come with high upfront costs, often take at least a decade to build, and regularly encounter delays, with newer technologies intended to address some of those issues remaining unproven.
Rama Variankaval, global head of corporate advisory at JPMorgan Chase & Co., expressed concern that enthusiasm for nuclear energy might have gone too far.
Variankaval said the demand for new power is materializing in real time, but the supply of new nuclear may take time, and that the reality of nuclear is it’s not ready for prime time.
Inside the investment banking division of JPMorgan Chase & Co., there’s concern that enthusiasm for nuclear energy might have gone too far.
“We’ve spent so much time on nuclear that I’ve become worried that maybe we’re over indexing on this problem,” Rama Variankaval, the bank’s global head of corporate advisory, said in an interview.
Nuclear power is having a moment in the US. After being largely stagnant for decades, the industry has been reignited by an insatiable demand for energy to power the data centers needed to support artificial intelligence. Bloomberg Intelligence estimates that demand for electricity will drive a $350 billion nuclear spending boom in the US, boosting output from reactors by 63% by mid-century.
Expectations of a nuclear renaissance have sent stocks soaring. Shares of nuclear energy startup Oklo Inc. have surged more than 500% this year, helped by a Sept. 22 announcement that the company broke ground on its first commercial reactor in Idaho. The MVIS Global Uranium & Nuclear Energy index is up over 70% in the period, compared with a 14% increase in the S&P 500 Index.
That exuberance looks overdone when considering likely delays in supply, according to Variankaval. “The demand of new power is materializing in real time, but the supply of new nuclear may take time,” he said.
Nuclear is one of the few low-carbon energy sources that is backed by the administration of US President Donald Trump. He’s signed executive orders to boost nuclear power and challenge rivals including Russia and China, a policy that includes a goal of quadrupling US nuclear capacity.
“Nuclear is almost certainly going to see a renaissance and be a bigger part of the electricity supply in the future,” Variankaval said. But “the reality of nuclear is it’s not ready for prime time,” he said.
Variankaval said his concerns have in part been shaped by the tone of several closed-door meetings he attended during New York climate week, in which what he characterized as unrealistic optimism around nuclear power dominated the conversation.
Nuclear power plants come with very high upfront costs, often take at least a decade to build and regularly encounter delays that mean budget predictions rarely hold. And despite soaring demand for carbon-free fission power in the US, the pace of construction has been glacial. Newer technologies intended to address some of those issues remain unproven.
Variankaval urged caution when it comes to expectations around small modular reactors, which can be built in factories and are faster and cheaper to produce than their larger counterparts. Despite the support for SMRs, the technology is “probably still a handful of years away from being a cost-competitive source of energy,” he said. “Fusion is likely two handfuls of years away.”
Bloomberg Intelligence forecasts that only 9 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity of any type will be added in the next decade, with widespread deployment of SMRs not expected to start until after 2035.
Nuclear developments also have been hampered by a lack of skilled labor, domestic fuel supply and regulatory infrastructure, among other things. Just three traditional reactors have been completed in the US this century.
Given the challenges facing nuclear, meeting short-term power requirements may still need to be “anchored around gas” with additional carbon capture, as well as solar and batteries, wind and hydropower, Variankaval said. “Power prices are already going up in many parts of the country” and “a continuation of this will test the policy support and the question of who pays for the incremental cost of new energy will need to be carefully addressed.”
Meanwhile, it’s not clear that nuclear power will be able to add enough to the energy mix to meet the demand generated by AI, according to Karen Fang, global head of sustainable and infrastructure finance at Bank of America Corp.
There’s been some “really promising progress,” she said on a panel at Bloomberg’s Women, Money & Power event in London on Oct. 1. But it still “doesn’t solve the AI power need for the next three to five years.”
Bloomberg Intelligence says the race to power AI’s $2 trillion capex wave “will be won by fast-build assets,” with about 72% of respondents to a recent BI survey seeing gas as critical to powering AI data centers.
Workers shut down Italy again in solidarity with Palestine
Hundreds of thousands joined a new general strike across Italy, in solidarity with the people of Gaza and the Global Sumud Flotilla.
October 03, 2025 by Peoples Dispatch, https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/10/03/workers-shut-down-italy-again-in-solidarity-with-palestine/
Hundreds of thousands of people have again taken to the streets of Italy in response to a general strike call originally launched by the grassroots union Unione Sindacale di Base (USB) and later joined by some of the country’s largest trade union confederations. As they blocked ports, highways, and industrial zones, protesters delivered a resounding rejection of Giorgia Meloni’s government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, demanding an immediate end to the attacks and the release of activists kidnapped from the Global Sumud Flotilla.
“Tens of thousands of people took to the streets for the general strike in support of Palestine: this is a huge success,” Giuliano Granato of the left party Potere al Popolo reported from one of the marches. “It shows that there is a majority in the country that is fighting for Palestine and doing what our government has not dared to do for two years.”
The strike came just days after Israeli forces assaulted dozens of vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters, detaining activists, including several Italians. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and other officials failed to act decisively for their protection or release. Instead, they implied Israel had acted with measure and tried to shift the blame on the flotilla for continuing its humanitarian mission despite threats. The government’s attempt to present itself as “sovereignist” fell apart in the face of these events. “This is not a government of sovereignists. This is a government that bows down and prostrates itself before Israel,” Granato said.
In several cities, demonstrators faced heavy police repression. In Padua, more than 10,000 protesters occupying the industrial zone were attacked with water cannons and tear gas. “The march stayed united and we are continuing the blockade,” one participant said. “We want an end to complicity. We want a free Palestine.”
Protesters in Bologna and Naples also pushed through police lines to occupy strategic points. In Naples, at least 50,000 people seized part of the port despite heavy policing. In Bologna, 150,000 blocked major roads. “This is the response of the people to Israel expanding the war, to the government repressing us, to those who want to divide us into good and bad,” Potere al Popolo’s Bologna chapter wrote. “Let’s center our priorities around those who keep this country going every day, with precarious lives, low wages, and insecure jobs. Instead of rearmament and alliances with Israel, let’s lay down arms and raise salaries!”
Union leaders echoed the calls. Maurizio Landini, head of the confederation CGIL, stated: “There are no rights, there is no dignity without peace. True security does not mean increasing spending on weapons, but investing in public health, education, employment, and the redistribution of wealth.”
The strike raised demands for a full arms embargo on Israel, the severing of all ties with the occupation authorities, and an immediate end to the genocide. And there is no end in sight for the mobilization – those who joined the strike are already preparing for Saturday’s national demonstration in Rome, where they will again assert their solidarity and determination to see a free Palestine.
Sellafield nuclear workers to strike over pay
ITV 3rd Oct 2025, https://www.itv.com/news/border/2025-10-03/sellafield-nuclear-workers-to-strike-over-pay
Construction workers at the Sellafield nuclear site are to strike from Saturday in a dispute over pay.
Unite said 1,500 of its members, including electricians, joiners and welders, at the Cumbria site will walk out until 13 October.
The union said other nuclear projects pay premiums it wants Sellafield to match, and it warned of further industrial action if the dispute is not resolved.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Our members are highly skilled workers operating in an extremely challenging environment.
“That this is the most significant industrial action at Sellafield in recent history speaks volumes about the levels of feeling among the workforce.”
As well as the strikes, a continuous overtime ban will start on 14 October.
Wall Street Warns of Nuclear Tech Bubble
Oil Price, By Haley Zaremba – Oct 03, 2025
- Billions of dollars are being invested in advanced nuclear technologies, driven by increasing energy demand from AI and broad bipartisan support.
- Despite significant investment, some Wall Street analysts are concerned about a potential bubble, citing a disconnect between fundamentals and valuations, leading to downgrades for some startups.
Billions of dollars are flowing into cutting-edge nuclear technologies, from nuclear fusion experiments to small modular reactors and microreactors that backers say will catalyze a global nuclear power renaissance. But after years of buzz and successful funding rounds, these Wall Street darlings have yet to send any of their promised carbon-free energy to the grid.
In 2024, investments in advanced nuclear companies from both private equity and venture capital hit an all time high. According to S&P Global, last year’s investments “surpassed the total deal value of the past 15 years combined.” The push for next-gen nuclear energy has accelerated on the back of growing energy demand projections driven by the proliferation of AI integration…………………………………………..
confidence is being undercut by some Wall Street analysts, who smell a bubble in the making. Semafor reports that “in general, the hysteria around power demand is pushing the valuations of many newly public energy startups beyond what they will realistically be able to deliver.” Dimple Gosai, head of U.S. clean tech equity research at Bank of America, told the news outlet that “the disconnect between fundamentals and valuation is too wide to ignore.”
Oklo, a small modular reactor (SMR) startup backed by AI bigwig Sam Altman, may prove to be such a cautionary tale. While the company’s share values have fared well since its 2024 IPO, the Bank of America downgraded its rating from “buy” to “neutral” just this week. It also downgraded NuScale, another SMR startup, NuScale, from “neutral” to “underperform.”
Axios Pro has also begun to report on investors looking to make a hasty exit from the market via SPAC mergers. SPACs, sometimes referred to as “blank check companies” are shell companies with no existing assets or operations at the time that they go public, making them an ideal “escape hatch” for investors getting cold feet about next-gen nuclear startup companies who want to offload the risk elsewhere. “This is the epitome of dumping on retail investors,” a venture funder told Axios
Pro…………………………………………………………..https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Wall-Street-Warns-of-Nuclear-Tech-Bubble.html
Leah McGrath Goodman, Tony Blair and issues on torture (with added radiation)
Published by arclight2011- date 15 Sep 2012 -nuclear-news.net
[…]
Accusations: Despite the mockery of the film Borat, leaked U.S. cables suggest the country was undemocratic and used torture in detention
Other dignitaries at the meeting included former Italian Prime Minister and ex-EU Commission President
Romano Prodi. Mr Mittal’s employees in Kazakhstan have accused him of ‘slave labour’ conditions after a series of coal mining accidents between 2004 and 2007 which led to 91 deaths.
[…]
Last week a senior adviser to the Kazakh president said that Mr Blair had opened an office in the capital.Presidential adviser Yermukhamet Yertysbayev said: ‘A large working group is here and, to my knowledge, it has already opened Tony Blair’s permanent office in Astana.’
It was reported last week that Mr Blair had secured an £8 million deal to clean up the image of Kazakhstan.
[…]
Mr Blair also visited Kazakhstan in 2008, and in 2003 Lord Levy went there to help UK firms win contracts.
[…]
Max Keiser talks to investigative journalist and author, Leah McGrath Goodman about her being banned from the UK for reporting on the Jersey sex and murder scandal. They discuss the $5 billion per square mile in laundered money that means Jersey rises, while Switzerland sinks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA_aVZrR5NI&feature=player_detailpage#t=749s
And as well as protecting the guilty child sex/torturers/murderers of the island of Jersey I believe that they are also protecting the tax dodgers from any association.. its just good PR!
FORMER Prime Minister Tony Blair was reportedly involved in helping to keep alive the world’s biggest takeover by Jersey-incorporated commodities trader Glencore of mining company Xstrata.
11/September/2012
[…]
Mr Blair was said to have attended a meeting at Claridge’s Hotel in London towards the end of last week which led to the Qatari Sovereign wealth fund supporting a final revised bid from Glencore for its shareholding. Continue reading
Newcleo, Europe’s largest nuclear startup in financial difficulty
The future of Newcleo, Europe’s largest nuclear startup, is uncertain. According to an audit of its accounts seen by the online business daily La Tribune , there is a ” significant risk “ to the group’s ability to continue operating if it fails to secure new financing within ” twelve months . “
Founded in 2021 by three Italians, the startup is developing a small modular reactor ( SMR ) with lead-cooled fast neutrons. It plans to launch a dedicated Mox fuel plant in Aube in 2030, then install a 30-megawatt demonstrator—the power of a conventional nuclear power plant can reach up to 1,500 megawatts—near Chinon (Indre-et-Loire) in 2031. The young company recorded losses of €103 million in 2024, more than double its losses in 2023 (€45 million).
It spends an average of €13 million per month, mainly to pay its approximately 1,000 European employees, and in April had only €160 million in cash, enough money for a year. It has been trying for several months to secure a new fundraising round, without success so far: private investors are waiting for governments to invest before committing, and France and Italy have still not fulfilled their commitments. In response, Newcleo has already cut 150 jobs in the United Kingdom and plans to reduce its engineering contracts with external service providers.
Reporterre 1st Sept 2025, https://reporterre.net/La-plus-grosse-start-up-europeenne-du-nucleaire-en-difficulte-financiere
A hungrier, poorer and more anxious Iran awaits ‘snapback’ of UN sanctions over its nuclear program.
By ASSOCIATED PRESS, 28 September 2025, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-15139177/A-hungrier-poorer-anxious-Iran-awaits-snapback-UN-sanctions-nuclear-program.html
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – As Iran’s ailing economy braced Saturday for the reimposition of United Nations sanctions over its nuclear program, it is ordinary people who increasingly find themselves priced out of the food they need to survive and worried about their futures.
Iran’s rial currency already sits at a record low, increasing pressure on food prices and making daily life that much more challenging. That includes meat, rice and other staples of the Iranian dinner table.
Meanwhile, people worry about a new round of fighting between Iran and Israel – as well as potentially the United States – as missile sites struck during the 12-day war in June now appear to be being rebuilt.
Activists fear a rising wave of repression within the Islamic Republic, which already has reportedly executed more people this year than over the past three decades.
Sina, the father of a 12-year-old boy who spoke on condition that only his first name be used for fear of repercussions, said the country has never faced such a challenging time, even during the deprivations of the 1980s Iran-Iraq war and the decades of sanctions that came later.
“For as long as I can remember, we´ve been struggling with economic hardship, and every year it´s worse than the last,” Sina told The Associated Press. “For my generation, it´s always either too late or too early – our dreams are slipping away.”
Early Sunday at 0000 GMT (8 p.m. Eastern), barring any last-minute diplomatic breakthrough, U.N. sanctions on Iran will be reimposed through “snapback,” as the mechanism is called by the diplomats who negotiated it into Iran´s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Snapback was designed to be veto-proof at the U.N. Security Council, meaning China and Russia cannot stop it alone, as they have other proposed actions against Tehran in the past.
The measure will again freeze Iranian assets abroad, halt arms deals with Tehran, and penalize any development of Iran´s ballistic missile program, among other measures.
France, Germany and the United Kingdom triggered snapback over Iran further restricting monitoring of its nuclear program and the deadlock over its negotiations with the U.S.
Iran further withdrew from the International Atomic Energy Agency monitoring after Israel´s war on the country in June, which also saw the U.S. strike nuclear sites in the Islamic Republic. Meanwhile, the country still maintains a stockpile of uranium enriched up to 60% purity – a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90% – that is largely enough to make several atomic bombs, should Tehran choose to rush toward weaponization.
Iran has long insisted its nuclear program is peaceful, though the West and IAEA say Tehran had an organized weapons program up until 2003.
Tehran has further argued that the three European nations shouldn´t be allowed to implement snapback, pointing in part to America´s unilateral withdrawal from the accord in 2018, during the first term of President Donald Trump´s administration.
“The Trump administration appears to think it has a stronger hand post-strikes, and it can wait for Iran to come back to the table,” said Kelsey Davenport, a nuclear expert at the Washington-based Arms Control Association. “Given the knowledge Iran has, given the materials that remain in Iran, that´s a very dangerous assumption.”
Risks also remain for Iran as well, she added: “In the short term, kicking out the IAEA increases the risk of miscalculation. The U.S. or Israel could use the lack of inspections as a pretext for further strikes.”
Iran on Saturday recalled its ambassadors to France, Germany and the U.K. for consultations ahead of the sanctions being reimposed, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
The aftermath of the June war drove up food prices in Iran, putting already expensive meat out of reach for poorer families.
Iran’s government put overall annual inflation at 34.5% in June, and its Statistical Center reported that the cost of essential food items rose over 50% over the same period. But even that doesn’t reflect what people see at shops. Pinto beans tripled in price in a year, while butter nearly doubled. Rice, a staple, rose more than 80% on average, hitting 100% for premium varieties. Whole chicken is up 26%, while beer and lamb are up 9%.
“Every day I see new higher prices for cheese, milk and butter,” said Sima Taghavi, a mother of two, at a Tehran grocery. “I cannot omit them like fruits and meat from my grocery list because my kids are too young to be deprived.”
The pressure over food and fears about the war resuming have seen more patients heading to psychologists since June, local media in Iran have reported.
“The psychological pressure from the 12-day war on the one hand, and runaway inflation and price hikes on the other, has left society exhausted and unmotivated,” Dr. Sima Ferdowsi, a clinical psychologist and professor at Shahid Beheshti University, told the Hamshahri newspaper in an interview published in July.
“If the economic situation continues like this, it will have serious social and moral consequences,” she warned, with the newspaper noting “people may do things they would never think of doing in normal circumstances to survive.”
Iran has faced multiple nationwide protests in recent years, fueled by anger over the economy, demands for women’s rights and calls for the country’s theocracy to change. The most recent came in 2022 over the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who died after being detained by police allegedly for not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to their liking.
In response to those protests and the June war, Iran has been putting prisoners to death at a pace unseen since 1988, when it executed thousands at the end of the Iran-Iraq war. The Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights and the Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran put the number of people executed in 2025 at over 1,000, noting the number could be higher as Iran does not report on each execution.
“Political and civic space in Iran has shrunk to nothing, and outside Iran, civil society activists and dissidents face transnational repression,” the center warned. “The Iranian people, millions of whom aspire to more than a closed and brutal theocracy, have tried every option within their reach. Their leaders have not.”
Vahdat reported from Tehran, Iran. Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran contributed to this report. ___
While EDF must invest 460 billion euros over 15 years, its economic model is taking on water.
P.La. with AFP, BFMTV 23rd Sept 2025 https://www.bfmtv.com/economie/entreprises/energie/alors-qu-edf-doit-investir-460-milliards-d-euros-en-15-ans-son-modele-economique-prend-l-eau_AD-202509240079.html
The Court of Auditors has issued a warning about the economic situation of the French energy company, now 100% state-owned. A wall of investment is looming to maintain and renew the group’s nuclear fleet.
The French Court of Auditors is concerned about the financial prospects of the public energy company EDF, calling for “a clear distribution of the financial effort” between the State, EDF and customers, in a report addressed to the Finance Committee of the National Assembly and consulted on Tuesday, September 24.
In this report, first revealed by the media
Contexte , the institution responsible for monitoring the proper use of public funds observes that EDF is “faced with significant uncertainties over its long-term financing capacity”, while it faces investment needs reaching 460 billion euros between 2025 and 2040.
In this context, “EDF’s financing model should, in order to preserve a sustainable financial trajectory for the group, be defined based on a clear distribution of the financial effort between the State, now the sole shareholder, EDF and the end customers,” the magistrates believe.
In detail, EDF plans to allocate 90 billion euros to the maintenance and extension of the existing nuclear fleet, 115 billion euros for the construction of 14 EPR 2 (including 75 for the first six), 15 billion euros for the hydraulic fleet and more than 100 billion euros for the Enedis network, manager of the electricity distribution network.
No more hazards
At the same time, EDF’s profitability will be more exposed “to the vagaries of changes in electricity market prices”, with the end of the regulated system known as Arenh , planned for the end of 2025. EDF intends to replace this system with medium and long-term contracts with electricity suppliers and companies, including high-energy industrial ones.
The Court of Auditors also notes that EDF’s ability to invest will be conditioned “by the operational performance of the nuclear fleet and the success of extending its lifespan.”
The body then recommends “setting, prior to the final investment decision on the EPR2 program, the terms of risk sharing between the State and EDF.” EDF’s final estimate for its EPR2 program should be known at the end of the year.
The Court of Auditors also calls for clarification of the dividend policy that will be applied to EDF and recommends that the group “conduct a strategic review of investments, holdings and subsidiaries.”
Total or partial sales of holdings and subsidiaries would constitute “a financing lever for the group’s investment program,” particularly “in the most unfavorable price scenarios,” argue the magistrates of the Court of Auditors.
Israel’s takeover of Gaza City to add $7.5BN to Israel’s and US’s taxpayer burden.
Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge,Tue, 23 Sep 2025, https://www.sott.net/article/501968-Israels-takeover-of-Gaza-City-to-add-7-5BN-to-US-taxpayer-burden
In the past Israel relied on its weapons superiority to dissuade potential attacks from neighbors, but that gap is obviously narrowing, as the massive Iranian retaliatory missile strikes on Tel Aviv and other cities demonstrated last June. Lessons from Ukraine should also be taken into account, as Israeli armor might not have the same battlefield presence it once did if cheap drones are so effective in destroying vastly more expensive tanks.
While the superior-armedIDF military has clearly been pushing forward in Gaza, as the war is soon to reach the two-year mark, Hamas has all the while released a steady stream of battlefield videos showing its militants engaged in successful ambushes. Large IDF tanks have been blown up often by militants sneaking up and placing IEDs directly on them.
The fact that Israel has since Oct.7 been engaging hostile groups from the Houthis of Yemen, to the Iranians, to Hezbollah in Lebanon – has meant a severe strain on public and government coffers. Israel has also frequently bombed Syria, as it did back in the days of Assad, and is now occupying parts of the country’s south, well beyond the Golan Heights. All of this also requires more manpower, and steady updates regarding weapons tech, parts, and mechanical upkeep.
Now there are new risks and mounting costs involved, as reservists continued to be called up in the thousands, connected to the effort to fully take over Gaza City – the Strip’s most populous location.
New Monday reporting in Bloomberg says that “Israel’s push to take over Gaza City is expected to add 25 billion shekels ($7.5 billion) to the war bill through the end of the year, according to an Israeli government official.”
“The added costs — equivalent to more than 1% of Israel’s gross domestic product — will pile onto the 204-billion-shekel military tally for the almost two-year war in Gaza, which spread to Lebanon, Iran, Syria and Yemen,” the report continues. That’s over $60 billion total.
Additionally the report notes that “Reservists’ salaries, ammunition and missile interceptors make up the bulk of spending, the official said on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters that haven’t been made public.”
There are other indirect factors putting an immense strain on funding the war effort, amid Israel’s increased global isolation, as CNN writes:
Netanyahu, meanwhile, is calling on Israel’s arms makers to step up their readiness. “We will need to strengthen our independent weapons industries so that we have munitions independence, a defense industrial economy, and the industrial capability to produce them,” he said last Monday, speaking at a finance ministry conference.
Israel and its arms makers have long been viewed as producing cutting-edge weapons technology, and those weapons have been sold to countries around the world. But as international criticism of the war in Gaza grows, Israel risks losing its position in some of those markets.
But the ‘special relationship’ with Washington will once again form the basis of bailing Israel out, and the Trump White House is already pushing for Congress to approve a nearly $6 billion arms deal with Israel.
The proposed package includes 30 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters valued at $3.8 billion, which would nearly double Israel’s current fleet, as well as 3,250 infantry fighting vehicles – at $1.9 billion.
Trump is said to be deeply frustrated with Prime Minister Netanyahu over the risky Doha operation targeting Hamas leaders earlier this month, but certainly this public stance doesn’t square with promise of $6 billion more in weapons. It’s yet another example of watch what Trump does and not what he says.
EDF: Court of Auditors warns of a model running out of steam.
Debt, deteriorating profitability, investments: in a report submitted to the National Assembly, the Court warns against the sustainability of EDF’s economic model and calls on the State to clarify its choices.
By Géraldine Woessner, 09/23/2025
With rising debt, declining profitability, and €460 billion of investments to finance by 2040,
EDF will not be able to carry out the energy transition alone, the Court of Auditors warns in essence in a report commissioned by the National Assembly’s Finance Committee, which is to be presented to MPs this Wednesday.
Le Point 23rd Sept 2025, https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/edf-la-cour-des-comptes-alerte-sur-un-modele-a-bout-de-souffle-23-09-2025-2599408_23.php
Nuclear power’s record year masks future sustainability challenges, says report
Last year, investment in renewables was 21 times greater than in nuclear power, and the added capacity from renewables exceeded net nuclear additions by over 100 times.
The report highlighted that there is no strong global expansion of nuclear power, and its contribution to global power generation is expected to decline further from 9% in 2024,
by Sayantan Sarkar, Edited by Devesh Kumar, Sep 22, 2025, https://invezz.com/news/2025/09/22/nuclear-powers-record-year-masks-future-sustainability-challenges-says-report/
- Nuclear power output in 2024 hit a record but faces sustainability issues due to underinvestment.
- Despite a global resurgence driven by climate change goals, significant challenges remain.
- The US is a key proponent of nuclear energy, integrating it into its energy policy.
According to the World Nuclear Industry Status Report released on Monday, the record level of global nuclear power production achieved in 2024 will be difficult to sustain in the coming years.
This is attributed to insufficient investment, the aging of existing plants, and disruptions to ongoing projects.
Nuclear power is currently experiencing a significant resurgence globally, driven by a growing imperative for nations to transition away from fossil fuels and combat climate change.
Renewed interest in nuclear power
This renewed interest stems from nuclear energy’s inherent advantages as a low-carbon, dispatchable power source.
The US, in particular, has emerged as a vocal proponent of nuclear energy, making it a central focus of its energy policy.
This commitment is evident in the recent legislative efforts and strategic initiatives aimed at bolstering domestic nuclear production and fostering international collaboration.
The US has actively pursued and secured numerous agreements with other countries, signifying a concerted effort to expand nuclear energy’s role on a global scale.
These agreements often involve sharing expertise, technology, and financial support to accelerate the development and deployment of advanced nuclear reactors.
Beyond the US, a diverse range of countries, from those with established nuclear programs to emerging economies, are exploring or re-evaluating nuclear power.
Factors influencing this trend include energy security concerns, the volatility of fossil fuel markets, and the increasing urgency to meet ambitious climate goals.
The development of smaller, more modular reactors (SMRs) is also contributing to this revival, offering greater flexibility and potentially lower construction costs, making nuclear power a more attractive option for a wider array of nations.
Rise of SMRs and outlook
In 2024, global nuclear power generation rebounded to a record 2,677 terawatt-hours, primarily driven by China’s growth, according to the nuclear industry status report data. This follows a two-year decline in nuclear power output.
However, the report indicated that maintaining current global nuclear output levels through 2030 would necessitate 44 additional startups beyond those already planned.
This would require an annual startup rate approximately two and a half times faster than that of the past decade.
The report, an annual publication collaboratively produced by various research groups, predicted that several factors will affect growth and lead to a decline in regional electricity production shares.
These factors include risks associated with aging fleets, slow construction, increasing system disruption from renewable energy, and China-centric development.
Competition and delays
It further indicated that competition from more affordable non-hydro renewables and battery storage is anticipated to have a widespread effect.
Last year, investment in renewables was 21 times greater than in nuclear power, and the added capacity from renewables exceeded net nuclear additions by over 100 times.
A significant decline in battery costs, roughly 40% in 2024, in contrast to the continued increase in nuclear plant expenses, according to the report.
The report said:
Together these new technologies are evolving towards a highly flexible fully electrified energy system… outcompeting traditional centralized fossil and nuclear systems.
Global nuclear power projects are experiencing significant delays. From 2020 to mid-2025, 44 out of 45 new construction projects worldwide were initiated by Chinese or Russian state-owned companies in countries like Egypt and Turkey.
The report highlighted that there is no strong global expansion of nuclear power, and its contribution to global power generation is expected to decline further from 9% in 2024, unless project execution and economic viability show substantial improvement.
Additionally, western countries have not yet begun construction on any SMR despite increased public and private investment, and these largely remain an aspiration.
China is an exception, with two SMR designs either operating or under construction, though detailed operational data are scarce.
Why Starmer’s nuclear ‘golden age’ risks becoming a lot of hot air.
Crippling costs and mountains of red tape threaten to pour cold water on the PM’s ambitions.
Donald Trump hasn’t been shy about criticising British
energy policy under Labour, lashing out at “ugly” wind farms and
crippling taxes on North Sea oil and gas. Yet one area where the US
president and Sir Keir Starmer seem to fervently agree is on nuclear power.
This week, the US and UK governments promised to work together to deliver a
“golden age” of privately-financed power plant construction.
The agreement will see the two countries fast-track the approval of new,
cutting-edge reactor designs by recognising each other’s safety regimes – a
controversial move that has already raised the hackles of activists. But to
underline the economic prize on offer, the announcement featured a string
of eye-catching investments being looked at by American and British
companies with plans for fleets of reactors that will power the grid, as
well as high-tech data centres needed for artificial intelligence (AI)
software. British Gas owner Centrica and X-energy, a nuclear start-up
backed by Amazon, said they were exploring building up to 80 advanced
modular reactors (AMRs) capable of delivering electricity and heat to both
industrial businesses and millions of homes. Meanwhile, Holtec
International and the UK arm of EDF are looking at building a small modular
reactor (SMR) on the former site of a coal power plant in Nottinghamshire.
Micro-reactor firm Last Energy is also exploring plans to power the London
Gateway port, while Bill Gates-backed TerraPower is scouting out locations
for mini power plants as well.
On the face of it, the deals looked like a
major triumph for the Prime Minister. But industry veterans were quick to
note that, in their current form, they are just loosely-worded commitments,
with the companies yet to sign binding contracts or exchange serious sums
of cash. One potential blueprint may lie in a new report by pro-growth
campaign group Britain Remade, which argues that nuclear power can offer
“abundant, clean, reliable electricity” and lower bills for consumers –
but only if the Government overhauls red tape that is “not fit for
purpose”. “US firms want to build here,” says Sam Dumitriu, the
report’s author. “But turning it into shovels in the ground, data centres
online, on time and on budget, depends on making the UK a lower-cost,
faster place to build”
Telegraph 18th Sept 2025, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/09/18/why-starmer-will-struggle-to-deliver-nuclear-golden-age/
U.S. Firms Boost UK Nuclear Sector with Major Deals
Oil Price By City A.M – Sep 16, 2025
- The UK and US have agreed to reduce the licensing time for nuclear projects from four years to two and broaden US companies’ access to the UK energy market.
- Several US companies have struck significant deals with UK partners, including X-Energy to build advanced modular reactors in Hartlepool, Holtec to develop data centers powered by small modular reactors, and Last Energy for a micro modular nuclear plant at London Gateway.
- The initiative aims to kickstart a “golden age of nuclear” in the UK, providing clean, homegrown energy, creating skilled jobs, and addressing high energy bills, though critics question the effectiveness of potential VAT cuts on energy bills.
…………………………………………………………………………………. Energy bills woes
The announcement comes as the government battles to bring down energy bills, which have almost doubled costs for households over the past eight years.
Alongside increasing the domestic supply of energy, Chancellor Rachel Reeves is reportedly weighing cutting VAT on energy to help lower consumer prices.
However, critics have questioned whether the move, which could cost the government nearly £2bn, would deliver tangible improvements to household budgets, warning that wealthy families with larger homes would disproportionately benefit from the tax break. https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/US-Firms-Boost-UK-Nuclear-Sector-with-Major-Deals.html
US and UK companies ink nuclear deals ahead of Trump visit
Transatlantic nuclear energy deals estimated to be worth over $100 billion
have been announced ahead of President Donald Trump’s state visit to the
United Kingdom this week. TerraPower, a Bill Gates-backed developer of
small nuclear reactors, announced Monday that it would work with
engineering firm KBR to study potential sites in the U.K. to deploy its
advanced Natrium reactors. Rockville, Maryland-based X-energy and British
energy company Centrica also announced plans to deploy up to 72 small
reactors for electricity and industrial heat in the U.K.
E&E News 16th Sept 2025, https://www.eenews.net/articles/us-and-uk-companies-ink-nuclear-deals-ahead-of-trump-visit/
Euratom: €9.8 billion for nuclear research in the next EU budget
The European Commission has put forward a €9.8 billion budget proposal for the EU’s next nuclear research programme, Euratom, giving a huge boost to fusion research. The next edition of Euratom, starting in 2028, will be almost five times bigger than the current €1.98 billion nuclear research programme. Most of this funding will go towards fusion energy projects, fuelling Europe’s ambition to become the first to develop and commercialise the technology.
A peculiarity of the Euratom programmes is that they are legally required to run for five years, which puts them out of step with the seven-year EU budget cycle. So, it is now usual for each programme to have a two-year extension to keep it in step. The present
proposal sets aside €6.7 billion from 2028 and 2032, with the extension bringing the total to €9.8 billion.
Science Business 4th Sept 25, https://sciencebusiness.net/news/nuclear-fusion/euratom-eu98-billion-nuclear-research-next-eu-budget
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