Sodium-Ion Batteries: A Technology Brief

This report examines the technology and market outlook for sodium-ion batteries, and their potential to reshape the EV battery landscape.

The global battery market is evolving at a remarkable pace. As renewables expand and electric vehicle (EV) deployment surges – with EVs expected to account for 90% of road transport by 2050 – batteries have become an important energy transition technology, driving both innovation and the demand for critical materials.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) currently dominate the market, but supply chain disruptions and material price volatility have exposed the need to diversify battery technologies and material choices. Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are …

Roadmaps to New Nuclear 2025: Report for Ministers and CEOs

This Roadmaps to New Nuclear: Report for Ministers and CEOs focuses on efforts to chart a collaborative path toward delivering new nuclear energy construction at the scale and pace required to meet growing global demand. Following on the work accomplished by delegates, including ministers and CEOs at previous Roadmaps to New Nuclear conferences, this brief provides a summary overview of identified strategic priorities and the actions taken since by the NEA. It sets the scene for discussions among this year’s delegates to advance international collaboration, foster strategic partnerships, share best practices and learn from each other’s experiences. The brief provides …

Nuclear Innovation and Newly Emerging Disruptive Technologies: Recent Initiatives by Industry, Research Laboratories and Governments

From its inception as a scientific discovery to its evolution into a key component of global energy infrastructure, nuclear energy has benefited from breakthroughs in physics, engineering and materials science. The sector now faces critical challenges that demand technological advancements and shifts in strategic thinking. Embracing next-generation reactor designs, leveraging digital technologies and fostering a culture of creativity and collaboration can unlock new applications for nuclear-generated industrial heat for, inter alia, energy-intensive industries, hydrogen production, petrochemical operations and district heating. This compilation of articles focused on nuclear innovation and newly emerging technologies gathers insights and perspectives from government, industry and …

Pathways to Accelerating Clean Energy: Assessing Non-Cost Barriers

Clean energy is cheaper and more readily available than at any other point in US history. Solar and wind are now cost-competitive with oil and gas and, in many cases, less expensive. Other clean technologies aren’t far behind. But if costs are no longer the biggest barrier to clean energy deployment in America, what is? Non-financial barriers—from permitting complexity to stakeholder opposition—continue to slow the deployment of utility-scale solar and transmission projects. To better characterize the obstacles blocking further clean energy deployment, Third Way commissioned Environmental Resources Management, Inc. (ERM) to survey more than 200 experienced industry practitioners cumulatively involved …

Remembering the Past in the Future: Building Awareness of Radioactive Waste Repositories Together

The NEA Expert Group on Awareness Preservation (EGAP) focusses on how knowledge in regard to managing high-level radioactive waste could be passed on to future generations. EGAP is also working on new concepts and alternative approaches for a comprehensive strategy on awareness preservation. Progress towards viable and shared records, knowledge and memory (RK&M)/awareness preservation strategies have been documented in the final report of the NEA initiative on the Preservation of Records, Knowledge and Memory Across Generations (NEA, 2019), where a number of tools and techniques are presented as the “RK&M toolbox”.

In order to disseminate and discuss preliminary results, receive …

Remembering the Past in the Future: Building Awareness of Radioactive Waste Repositories Together

The NEA Expert Group on Awareness Preservation (EGAP) focusses on how knowledge in regard to managing high-level radioactive waste could be passed on to future generations. EGAP is also working on new concepts and alternative approaches for a comprehensive strategy on awareness preservation. Progress towards viable and shared records, knowledge and memory (RK&M)/awareness preservation strategies have been documented in the final report of the NEA initiative on the Preservation of Records, Knowledge and Memory Across Generations (NEA, 2019), where a number of tools and techniques are presented as the “RK&M toolbox”.

In order to disseminate and discuss preliminary results, receive …

ICDE Topical Report: Collection and Analysis of Common-Cause Pre-Initiator Human Failure Events

The report is mainly intended for designers, operators and regulators to provide insights of complete common-cause pre-initiator HFEs in the ICDE database. The insights can give valuable experience to support and improve the human reliability analysis modelling in the probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) models and provide CCF data for quantification purposes. The insights in common-cause dependencies are especially valuable since many of these are not typically modelled in a human reliability analysis.

The report summarises the results of two internal data analysis workshops performed by the ICDE steering group, presents CCF defence aspects for common-cause pre-initiator HFEs, and includes in …

Emissions Gap Report 2025

The sixteenth edition of the Emissions Gap Report finds that global warming projections over this century, based on full implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), are now 2.3-2.5°C, while those based on current policies are 2.8°C. This compares to 2.6-2.8°C and 3.1°C in last year’s report.

However, methodological updates account for 0.1°C of the improvement, and the upcoming withdrawal of the US from the Paris Agreement will cancel another 0.1°C, meaning that the new NDCs themselves have barely moved the needle. Nations remain far from meeting the Paris Agreement goal to limit warming to well-below 2°C, while pursuing efforts to …

Efficient Energy Management of a Low-Voltage AC Microgrid with Renewable and Energy Storage Integration Using Nonlinear Control

This paper proposes an enhanced nonlinear control strategy combined with efficient energy flow management for a low-voltage AC microgrid integrating a wind turbine, a photovoltaic system, and a battery energy storage unit. The microgrid operates in a grid-connected configuration, aiming to optimize energy generation, storage, and consumption. To achieve this, a comprehensive mathematical model of the system is developed, and backstepping controllers are designed to fulfill the control objectives. The stability of the closed-loop system is rigorously verified using Lyapunov theory. Furthermore, a novel algorithm is introduced to maximize renewable energy extraction while effectively managing battery storage to enhance system …

Research on Improved Cable-Length-Adaptive Sensorless Vector Control for Drives of Induction Motors in Deep-Sea Oilfields

This paper addresses the issue of the insufficient adaptability of existing vector control algorithms to filter and compensate for long cable parameters (under the influence of parasitic impedance, parasitic capacitive reactance, and parasitic inductive reactance), which leads to unresolved stability and harmonic issues in long-cable drives for deep-sea oil fields.…