Uranium 2024: Resources, Production and Demand

Uranium is the primary raw material fuelling all nuclear fission reactors today. Countries around the world rely on it to generate low-carbon electricity, process heat and hydrogen as part of their strategies to reduce carbon emissions and increase energy security and supply. No form of nuclear fission power – of any kind – is possible without relying on uranium.

This 30th edition of Uranium Resources, Production and Demand, also commonly known as the “Red Book” marks the 60th anniversary of its establishment as a recognised global reference on uranium. Jointly prepared by the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and the International …

Energy Policy Review: The Netherlands 2024

The Netherlands’ energy transition is accelerating rapidly, driven by a strong commitment to its climate framework. Since the National climate agreement in 2019, which included binding climate targets for 2030 and 2050, the shift in ambitions and the speed of the transition have been remarkable. Most notably, strong policy support has helped the Netherlands become a frontrunner in renewable electricity deployment, led by impressive growth in solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind power, notably offshore. Beyond the power sector, the Netherlands is also making good progress in electrifying heating and mobility. While there has been rapid growth in clean energy in …

A Reliable Grid for an Electric Future: NEMA’s Grid Reliability Study

America’s electrical system faces dramatic changes over next 25 years:
– Increased Demand Electricity: demand will grow by more than 50%
– New Policies: Critical new policies and regulatory certainty are needed to deliver a flexible, stable, more resilient grid
– Urgent need to invest in technologies to meet coming demand in an all-ofthe-above energy ecosystem: Transmit more over existing lines by improving efficiency and utilizing smart grid technology…

Future-Proof AI Data Centers, Grid Reliability, and Affordable Energy: Recommendations for States

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming industries, but its rapid expansion is already causing a significant increase in electricity demand. Data centers that support AI model training and inference require immense computational power, putting pressure on the electric grid and raising concerns about sustainability, energy costs, and reliability. Recent projections suggest that AI-driven data centers could consume up to 9% of U.S. electricity by 2030 (equivalent to the electricity needed to power 20–40% of today’s vehicles if they were EVs), highlighting the need for policies that ensure energy-efficient, socially responsible, and environmentally sustainable development.

The emergence of DeepSeek, a highly efficient …

Characteristics, Emission Factors, and Health Risks of Vehicular Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

This study characterizes vehicular PAHs using roadway tunnel measurements on Mumbai-Pune Expressway, a crucial route in Western India. Dominated by four- to six-ring PAHs (75%-89%), concentrations were influenced by diesel, heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs), and super-emitters. The total PAH emission factor was 52.7(±4.5) μg veh⁻¹ km⁻¹. An inverse relationship was observed between PAH molecular weight and volatility of organic carbon (OC). Molecular weight also strongly correlated with mass absorption coefficient (MAC) of brown carbon (BrC), significantly enhancing light absorption. Methanol-soluble BrC exhibited stronger absorption correlation with higher molecular weight PAHs (ΣHMWPAH). Carcinogenic PAHs accounted for 98.9% of total toxicity, with incremental …

Analyzing the Impacts of Employing Demand Response and Creating Optimal Coalition on Optimal Scheduling of Multi-Microgrid

In the restructured power system, by integrating distributed generators in the near of loads, necessity of installing power plants is eliminated. This work is feasible by introducing small-scale systems, which are presented by the microgrid (MG) concept. To exchange power between seller and buyer MGs, they should pay costs to the distribution network operator (DNO), which are called service charges. In this paper, creating a proper coalition is suggested for optimal management of a multi-MG system. In each load level, MGs, to minimize their service charge and maximize their benefits and feed their demands for energy at low prices and …

Reimagining the Electricity Sector in Island Nations with Virtual Power Plants

Distributed virtual power plants (VPPs) can revolutionize the Caribbean’s energy landscape. These networks of decentralized and distributed energy sources (DERs) are aggregated and actively controlled by a VPP aggregator, enabling hundreds or thousands of devices to operate as a unified system offering an innovative solution to the region’s energy challenges. Many island nations remain heavily dependent on expensive, imported and polluting fossil fuels for electricity generation, leaving them vulnerable to volatile global fuel prices and frequent power outages due to aging grid infrastructure. Climate change further exacerbates these challenges, with hurricanes posing a constant threat to power systems and economic …

Supporting a Reliable Grid: The Opportunity for Virtual Power Plants in Michigan

Michigan has an aging distribution grid with high incidents of blackouts. It also suffers from narrowing capacity availability for resources to meet peak demand. Virtual power plants (VPPs) — aggregations of distributed energy resources (DERs) that can provide utility-scale and utility-grade grid services — can help address those challenges while supporting the state in reaching its ambitious clean energy standard of 80% by 2035 and 100% by 2040.

According to the Department of Energy, VPPs can be configured to provide a range of benefits, including reliability and resilience, affordability, greenhouse gas emissions reductions, resource adequacy, and more.

This brief outlines …

Drivers of Persistent Changes in the Global Methane Cycle Under Aggressive Mitigation Action

To achieve the Paris climate agreement goals, methane (CH4) emission mitigation plays a key role. Therefore, a better understanding of the global methane cycle is indispensable. Here we simulate the global methane cycle fully interactively from 1850 to 2100 with a strong mitigation action scenario (SSP1-2.6) post 2014. We show that the atmospheric methane burden largely recovers to early 20th-century levels, while wetland methane emissions follow a persistent upward trend from 166 Tg(CH4) yr–1 at pre-industrial to 221 Tg(CH4) yr–1 in 2100. The methane lifetime decreases from 9.3 to 7.3 years over the 1850–2100 period. We identify net primary productivity …

Consensus Position on the Qualification of Existing and New Material Manufacturing Techniques within Codes and Standards

The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Working Group on Codes and Standards (WGCS) has agreed that a consensus position on the topic of the qualification of existing and new material man facturing techniques within codes and standards is warranted given their impact on the quality of the material used for safety significant structures, systems or components.

This action follows the WGCS examination of Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA) activities on positive macro-segregation issues in large forgings leading to recommedations on the qualification of material manufacturing techniques.

The WGCS proposes a consensus position gathering common expectations from regulators onthe qualification of …