World Nuclear News

There's enough uranium in the world's oceans to power our current energy needs for hundreds of thousands of years. The challenge is finding a way to extract it at a cost that makes it a viable option.
There have been various studies and trials carried out over the years - including in China and Japan - and in this episode we hear from Canon Bryan, founder and CEO of Supercritical Materials, about his US-based plan to secure uranium at scale, and at an economically viable cost, from the sea.
Bryan, who was a co-founder of Uranium Energy Corp and spent more than a decade as Terrestrial Energy's chief commercial officer, says that the idea of sourcing uranium from seawater had been seen as a "mythical technology", one that, like fusion, was being worked on "but always a few years away".
"In fact we've learned that's not true - with the serious engineering work we've been doing we've been able to dispel a lot of those myths," he says.
If successful, it would solve supply issues - such as geopolitical ones - in the existing nuclear fuel supply chain, he says. Behind the initiative is Supercritical having exclusive rights to a licence from the US Department of Energy for a patented technological system to extract uranium from seawater.
Their challenge is an engineering one: to scale-up the process to an industrial scale. They are currently in the preliminary economic assessment phase, with a target timeline, if all goes well, of 2033 for an industrial-scale facility, which, Bryan believes, could be producing uranium at the same, or lower, prices than found in today's market.
Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
Supercritical Materials
CNNC launches test platform to extract uranium from seawater
Email newsletter:
Sign up to the World Nuclear News daily or weekly news round-ups
Contact info:
alex.hunt@world-nuclear.org
Episode credit:  Presenter Alex Hunt. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production

More than 1,300 people from 65 countries gathered in London for the 2026 World Nuclear Symposium. There was a packed programme of discussions, panels and networking, as well as a one-day summit focused on financing nuclear.
The World Nuclear News team were there and have put together a report on the symposium's proceedings.
People featured, in order of appearance:
Sama Bilbao y León, Director General, World Nuclear Association
Mark Muldowney, MD, Energy, Resources and Infrastructure, BNP Paribas
Alejandro López Delgado, Managing Director, Infrastructure, La Caisse
Grant Isaac, President and Chief Operating Officer, Cameco
Lucia Tian, Director of Advanced Energy Technologies, Google
Amir Adnani, President and CEO of Uranium Energy Corp
Toru Matsuda, General Manager, Nuclear Fuel Contracts, Kansai Electric Power Co
Scott Moe, Premier of Saskatchewan
Dastan Kosherbayev, Chief Strategy and International Development Officer, Kazatomprom 
Chris Frankland, Director of Sales and Marketing, Nuclear Fuels Corporation, General Atomics
Jason Murphy, VP of Nuclear Fuels, Constellation
Stephen Long, CEO, Global Laser Enrichment
Tuomas Rantala, Head of Fuel Unit, TVO
Cecile Evans, Chair of UFMWG and Marketing Director, Back-end and New Nuclear Activities, Orano
Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe, President of the Council, Togo
Arsenio Antonio Domínguez Velasco, Secretary General, International Maritime Organization
Mikal Bøe, CEO, Core Power
John Fingleton, head of the UK's Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce
Ma Yuanhua, President, State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation
Polina Lion, Chief Sustainability Officer, Rosatom
Tim Gitzel, President and CEO, Cameco
Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
World Nuclear Symposium
Uranium companies see new chapter for the market
Summit hears of surging interest in investing in nuclear projects
Tips from China's 56-month nuclear construction schedule
Africa must be part of global nuclear renaissance, says Togolese leader
Email newsletter:
Sign up to the World Nuclear News daily or weekly news round-ups
Contact info:
alex.hunt@world-nuclear.org
Episode credit:  Presenter Alex Hunt. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production

In this bonus episode, hear the full speech at World Nuclear Symposium in London from internationally renowned architect Lord Norman Foster. In it he says that nuclear's ability to provide a "vast amount of power" with "a tiny imprint" means that micro-modular power units should be being produced at "industrial-scale, like jet engines" with the potential to autonomously power new developments and move beyond the "obsolete idea of a grid". 
Speaking without notes, the 91-year-old multi-award-winner behind numerous iconic projects, including the HSBC building in Hong Kong, the Gherkin building in London and Apple's Californian campus, said that the 19th Century was the age of the Industrial Revolution, but the world was now moving into a new age, of "electrical revolution". 
He warned that, over decades, targets set to address climate change had not been met, and fossil fuels still dominated. Referring to wind and solar power, he said: "As a civilisation we hinge on the balance between the built-world and nature, so there is an imperative to get that balance right and not to threaten the very ecosystems that we survive on." 
He described himself as a fairly recent convert to nuclear energy - "my entry point was the nuclear battery, the micro-modular reactor - I was amazed to discover that something container-sized, with a co-generator, another similar-sized container of six metres/20 feet, could power 25 East Side blocks, a small town or community".
World Nuclear Symposium, organised by World Nuclear Association, was held in London in the second week of September. There will be full reports and highlights of the event in the next edition of the World Nuclear News podcast.
Key links to find out more:
Foster + Partners
Norman Foster Institute
World Nuclear News
Summit hears of surging interest in investing in nuclear projects 

Email newsletter:
Sign up to the World Nuclear News daily or weekly news round-ups

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

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

Nuclear reactors worldwide generated 2702 TWh of electricity in 2025, beating the previous year's record of 2667 TWh, according to the newly published World Nuclear Outlook Report. The report also calculates that if all national targets for new nuclear capacity were achieved, total nuclear energy capacity would more than meet the widely-shared goal to at least triple nuclear capacity by 2050.
 
The author of the World Nuclear Association report, Jonathan Cobb, who is senior programme lead, climate, at the association, outlines the key findings on nuclear energy plant performance and prospects. For instance, there is further evidence that the output and reliability of nuclear energy units remains high across the lifetime of reactors, increasing in many cases as units age.
Looking ahead at the prospects for new nuclear capacity, he outlines how projects under construction, planned and pledged could see the current 423 GWe capacity increase to 1457 GWe by 2050 (GWe is gigawatts of electrical capacity). New capacity under construction increased to 82 GWe, with eleven reactors starting construction in 2025.
The combined total of planned, proposed and potential capacity increased to 416 GWe, reducing the gap between actual projects and government targets, although around 550 GWe of currently envisaged capacity by 2050 under national targets has yet to be translated into specific project plans.
As well as reviewing the progress towards individual countries' targets, the report includes a series of policy recommendations for governments, industry, financiers and regulators. These range from "establishing durable policy and investment frameworks, streamlining regulation and strengthening supply chains, to building the workforce, supporting proven reactor deployment and creating the programme-based delivery models needed". It also highlights that maintaining and extending the existing fleet is the fastest and most cost-effective way to secure low-carbon electricity.

Key links to find out more:
World Nuclear News
World Nuclear Performance Report 2025

Email newsletter:
Sign up to the World Nuclear News daily or weekly news round-ups

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

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

Anna Bryndza is Executive Vice President for International at nuclear industry market research and analysis company UxC, which plays a key role in the nuclear fuel cycle via its publications such as Ux Weekly. It also publishes the industry standard uranium spot prices.
In this episode, she talks with Claire Maden about the current uranium market and the outlook for demand - and how past experience can help inform an element of caution in terms of some of the more ebullient suggestions of how much uranium will be needed in a decade or two's time.
UxC's work reporting prices for uranium has a key role in the world nuclear fuel cycle and Bryndza outlines the history of the price reporting and outlines how the process works.
And we also hear about the Atomic Runners group, and the growth of the social/fitness initiative.
Key links to find out more:
UxC
World Nuclear Fuel Cycle: How best to meet growing demand?
World Nuclear News

Email newsletter:
Sign up to the World Nuclear News daily or weekly news round-ups
Contact info:
alex.hunt@world-nuclear.org
Episode credit:  Presenter Alex Hunt. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production