The IAEA’s World Fusion Outlook aims to be the global reference for authoritative information and updates on fusion energy — a potentially unlimited, low carbon source of clean energy, which can contribute to decarbonization and diversification of energy generation in the long term. The IAEA has been promoting fusion energy research and development for over 60 years, and it continues to strongly support research and development and future deployment by bringing the fusion community together to create solutions for both scientific and technological challenges. This second issue of the publication outlines achievements in fusion energy, features fusion plant concepts under development and their timelines, policy frameworks, and trends in both public and private investment. It also covers research output metrics and offers regional and sectoral outlooks.

This publication presents the structure and assumptions supporting the EMPOWER tool and provides a practical guide on using EMPOWER for analysing the macroeconomic impacts associated with nuclear projects and programmes. EMPOWER stands for Extended Input-Output Model for Sustainable Power Generation. The IAEA developed this tool involving research teams from its Member States, particularly in the context of a Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on "assessing national and regional economic effects of nuclear programs". EMPOWER belongs to the class of input-output models, commonly used to evaluate the impact of investments in large infrastructure projects, which offer the ability to analyse the effects of exogenous shocks in a relatively simple way. This type of model describes the interdependencies between the different sectors of the economy through an input-output table and several feedback mechanisms. This report is intended for macroeconomic analysts, energy planners and decision-makers exploring ways to inform energy policies and strategies at the governmental level as well as at ministries leading or contributing to energy planning studies.

This publication aims to provide Member States with a concise overview of the latest developments regarding SMR technology worldwide. It explores SMRs under development, their potential growth trajectory, and the lifecycle of SMR development from concept to decommissioning. It also examines the unique global role the IAEA plays in supporting the establishment of sustainable nuclear power programmes and in catalysing technology development and deployment in Member States including through efforts such as the SMR Platform and the Nuclear Harmonization and Standardization Initiative (NHSI). Most data presented in this publication come from the 2024 update to the ARIS database. Publications on the status of SMR technology developments have been published in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2022 and 2024.

The 2024 edition of Climate Change and Nuclear Power delves into the dynamics of financing nuclear projects to unlock much needed nuclear energy capacity as ambitious climate targets draw nearer. We explore the imperative for robust financial frameworks to propel the adoption of nuclear energy as a cornerstone of global decarbonization efforts. This publication seeks to inform those at the intersection of sustainability and finance — climate negotiators, government officials, commercial and multilateral financiers, energy and climate policy makers, experts, non-governmental organizations and media representatives — about the potential of nuclear energy in mitigation and highlight challenges and best practices in financing nuclear projects.

Radioactive waste arises with all uses of nuclear technologies and requires disposal for its safe long-term management. Site investigations to inform disposal site selection, design, environmental and safety assessment is central to implementing any disposal facility. This publication provides guidance on requirements-driven management of a site investigation programme for disposal and presents a broad range of tried-and-proven technologies used to conduct investigations and obtain required site data. Investigation approaches specific to different types of host rocks are presented and case studies on issues and challenges dealt with by Member States provide lessons learned. This publication will be of interest to senior decision makers, scientists and engineers, technical support organisations and regulatory authorities involved in disposal of radioactive waste.

Implementation of a geological disposal programme for radioactive waste is a major undertaking. Consideration must be given to the long time over which the programme operates, the technical assurance which needs to be demonstrated to ensure long term safety and security, and the socially and politically sensitive nature of radioactive materials management. This publication provides a roadmap for developing and implementing a geological disposal programme for spent nuclear fuel declared as waste, high level, and intermediate level waste. It identifies the important components and sequences of activities that are the responsibility of the implementing organization to construct and operate a geological disposal repository in a manner consistent with existing international experience. The publication also provides information on how several advanced programmes have progressed along their respective roadmaps toward siting, constructing, and operation a geological repository.

The objective of this TECDOC is to support the guidance given in SSG-9 (Rev. 1), by providing the state-of-the-practice and detailed technical elements related to the evaluation of probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) on the basis of observational data. This publication defines the methodology and provides practical guidance for evaluating the elementary and integral steps of PSHA, with the help of examples from case studies and describes the type of observational data that may be used in the evaluation. This publication also discusses the ways of using the evaluation results to check the center, body and range of the epistemic uncertainties to encourage PSHA developers to update or reconsider unrealistic assumptions or combination of unrealistic branches in the logic tree. The technical information and practical guidance provided here will be valuable to nuclear power plant operators, regulatory bodies, vendors, technical support organizations and researchers working in the field of seismic hazard assessment for nuclear installations.

The Fuel Incident Notification and Analysis System (FINAS) is a powerful tool to exchange operating experience from events occurred at nuclear fuel cycle facilities (NFCFs) of the participating Member States, with an aim to prevent the occurrence of similar events at other NFCFs. This publication provides information on the use of FINAS, including its reporting process and usage. It provides users with the necessary background and information to develop and submit event reports to the system. This publication is intended for operating organizations, technical support organizations and regulatory bodies of operating nuclear fuel cycle facilities, specifically the National Coordinators and Generic Users of FINAS.

This publication addresses the main challenges related to the sustainable operation and effective utilization of a research reactor. Clarity on the vision, mission, and purpose of a research reactor is directly related to understanding the optimization of its availability and reliability. The practices of interest discussed are generally within the domain of the research reactor operating organization and involves operating activities and management systems. The scope includes the attributes of different management systems, related practices and the activities that have proven their value through demonstrated performance excellence in several Member States. It provides a high-level summary of the key activities supporting availability and reliability, provides examples of good practices of operating research reactors in Member States, and references to additional IAEA publications, where applicable, for more comprehensive details. This publication is intended for research reactor designers, operators, regulators, and other stakeholders as guidance for improving operation and maintenance practices of research reactors.

The 44th edition of Reference Data Series No. 1 (RDS-1) contains estimates of energy, electricity, and nuclear power trends up to the year 2050. The publication is organized into world and regional subsections with low and high case projections for nuclear capacity and starts with a summary of the status of nuclear power in IAEA Member States as of the end of 2023 based on the latest statistical data collected by the IAEA’s Power Reactor Information System (PRIS). Relative to a global nuclear operational capacity of 372 GW(e) at the end of 2023, the low case projects an increase of about 40% to 514 GW(e) by 2050. In the high case, world nuclear capacity is projected to increase to 2.5 times the current capacity, reaching 950 GW(e) by 2050. Enabling factors would be necessary to reach the high case, including supportive national policies and strategies, more favourable financing frameworks, investment in grids and work force development. The intended audience includes policy makers, energy analysts and industry.

This publication introduces the Holistic Approach to Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) Management as being developed in the scope of the Environet NORM Project. This publication also presents an analysis of how this framework can be systematically applied to scope the way in which a given country can deal with management of NORM residues within a circular economy transition. This publication is intended for policy makers, governmental organizations, industries related to NORM, regulators, consultants in the area of NORM and members of academia.