- Director-General William D. Magwood, IV was a keynote speaker at the Budapest Energy Summit on 1 December 2020, where he spoke about the current status of & future prospects for nuclear energy, technology and research.
- The NEA participated in the Global Impact Conference on 1-2 December 2020. Director-General Magwood spoke at the plenary session and highlighted the role of nuclear energy in the cost-effective decarbonisation of electricity systems. “As our societies progress together, the ability to have reliable, cost-effective electricity will be key. I believe nuclear energy together with renewables can provide the pathway for us to make electricity available across the world,” he said.
- The NEA also participated in the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) International Conference on Recovery after Nuclear Accidents, which was held from 1 to 18 December 2020. Director-General Magwood spoke at the opening session on lessons learnt in and future considerations for post-accident recovery. Jacqueline Garnier-Laplace, Deputy Head of the NEA Division of Radiological Protection and Human Aspects of Nuclear Safety, co-chaired the session on “Off-site Decontamination and Related Waste Management Issues: From Current Status to Remaining Challenges”.
- The NEA participated in the 12th Meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Steering Committee on Regulatory Capacity Building and Knowledge Management on 7-11 December 2020. Antonella di Trapani, a senior NEA analyst, spoke about NEA activities in capacity building, including the NEA Nuclear Education, Skills & Technology Framework (NEST), which aims to help NEA member countries address gaps in capacity building, knowledge transfer & technical innovation.
- The NEA and the International Energy Agency (IEA) hosted an expert roundtable discussion on 9 December 2020 to explore findings from the 2020 edition of the Projected Costs of Generating Electricity, the ninth report in the series on the levelised costs of electricity (LCOE) jointly prepared every five years by the two agencies.
- The 7th NEA International Mentoring Workshop in Science and Engineering was held virtually on 15-17 December 2020.
- The NEA organised a virtual multi-sector workshop in collaboration with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) on 14-18 December 2020 to discuss the best regulatory practices that the nuclear sector can adopt from non-nuclear sectors when licensing new and innovative technologies.
