When Ontario Power Generation (OPG) senior vice-president for the Darlington New Nuclear Project, Jon Franke, took the stage during a panel at the 2025 World Nuclear Supply Chain (WNSC) Conference, he posed a simple question to the packed room: 鈥淗as anyone here been involved with a billion-dollar nuclear project that was delivered on time and according to plan?鈥� Not a single hand went up.聽
鈥淭here we go,鈥� he said, letting the silence speak for itself. It was a candid moment that underscored a truth long understood in the industry 鈥� the global nuclear industry needs a new playbook.
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Over two days of discussions at WNSC, key stakeholders from the nuclear sector explored what this playbook should look like. The message was clear: meeting the goal of tripling nuclear capacity by 2050 will require a break from business as usual, starting with embracing long-term planning, greater standardisation and working together like never before.
Building confidence for the long haul聽
One of the strongest takeaways from this year鈥檚 conference was the urgent call for long-term thinking in both policies and practices within the industry.
Industry called on governments to provide clear and consistent market signals through policies that account for the long run. As Sama Bilbao y Le贸n, director general of the World Nuclear Association, put it: 鈥淲e need to have stability in policies that can give us [the industry] long-term confidence, so we can all invest in our programmes.鈥澛�
Her sentiment was echoed by EDF鈥檚 senior vice-president for international nuclear development, Vakisasai Ramany, who emphasised that 鈥渃onfidence in sustained demand for nuclear is most essential鈥�.
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By GlobalDataThis isn鈥檛 just about announcing one-off projects, Ramany pointed out, but 鈥済overnments backing their nuclear ambitions with predictable policies, consistent funding mechanisms and stable regulatory frameworks鈥�.聽
Carl Bergl枚f, national nuclear new-build coordinator in the Swedish Government, also highlighted the role of governments in 鈥減aving the way for nuclear by securing suitable, predictable regulations and financing schemes.鈥� His beliefs were reinforced the day after the conference 鈥� with Sweden鈥檚 parliament taking a great leap forward by passing a pivotal bill outlining a financial aid model to fund new nuclear reactors.聽
For nuclear to succeed, this kind of governmental alignment is not optional 鈥� it is foundational. Ramany added that 鈥渋ndustry players, in turn, must be ready to commit and invest in building out capacity long-term鈥�.
Marc Tannenbaum, principal technical executive at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), agreed that planning ahead is beneficial. 鈥淎s we start looking at purchasing all this equipment for nuclear new builds, there is an opportunity to make sure that the information needed to support these facilities long-term is acquired during the construction process, when you鈥檝e got the leverage associated with large spend,鈥� Tannenbaum said, stressing that this will help 鈥渁void spending millions of dollars later鈥� trying to retroactively collect information that is needed to build maintenance and inventory programmes after the facility has opened.
Standardisation and simplification聽
Another clear theme of the conference was the need for standardisation across the entire supply chain. 鈥淲e need to have streamlined and standardised regulation,鈥� Bilbao y Le贸n said, arguing that it is not just a technical necessity, but a strategic enabler that helps unlock supply chain efficiency, lower costs and build trust among financiers. 鈥淎t the same time,鈥� she noted, 鈥渨e need to design our reactors in the most standardised and simplified manner鈥�.
鈥淪tandardisation is important not only at the level of the design, but also in a broader sense,鈥� added Andrei Goicea, policy director at NuclearEurope, pointing to a standardised, common supply chain and knowledge sharing.
For industry to take this step, 鈥渟top thinking about your success on an individual project鈥�, Franke urged, 鈥渁nd recognise that a rising tide will raise all boats鈥�.
He called on the industry to consolidate standards, collaborate on best practices and create a more open supply ecosystem to ultimately 鈥渂ring costs down for the entire industry鈥�.
When one of us wins, all of us win聽
The nuclear sector is shifting from siloed, state-led projects to a globally networked ecosystem. That was the consensus among the participants and speakers at WNSC, with PA Consulting Group鈥檚 business transformation leader, Connor Deehan, explaining: 鈥淣uclear is now part of a very complex energy system. New applications 鈥� district heating, hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuel, and both on and off-grid electricity solutions 鈥� and new geographies turning to nuclear is driving a need for new thinking across industry, from typically state-driven deployment of projects to coordinated programmes involving a complex ecosystem of stakeholders: a mix of government, industry, grid technology providers, consumers and more all working together in a way that we haven鈥檛 really worked before under a more vertically integrated model.鈥�
鈥淚t truly is an ecosystem that we are operating in,鈥� Deehan said, 鈥渁nd collaboration is essential.鈥� Ramany elaborated that this 鈥渕eans moving from isolated project announcements to clear investable pipelines鈥�.
Bilbao y Le贸n summed up this new mindset: 鈥淲e need to behave collectively as an industry and know that when one of us wins, all of us will eventually win.鈥�
Introducing the concept of 鈥済localisation鈥� 鈥� balancing global collaboration with local capability development 鈥� she added: 鈥淵es, we need to develop local capabilities and supply chains, but we want to make sure that the entire global nuclear industry can make the most from the growth and economic opportunity from a nuclear power project, and not just one country, region or company capitalising on this opportunity alone.鈥�
Ramany closed the circle by outlining what success should look like going forward: 鈥淟ong-term infrastructure, deep technical expertise and a resilient, scalable supply chain鈥� Now, to succeed, this global effort must be coordinated.鈥�
