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Welcome to The International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation

MOROCCO HOSTS AND CHAIRS IFNEC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MINISTERIAL-LEVEL MEETING IN MARRAKECH ON OCTOBER 10, 2012

On October 10, 2012, the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation (IFNEC) held its third annual Executive Committee Ministerial Meeting in Marrakech, Morocco. On behalf of the Kingdom of Morocco as the Host, the Director General of the National Center for Energy Sciences and Nuclear Techniques (CNESTEN), Khalid El Mediouri, served as the Chair for the Ministerial meeting, and Moroccan Minister of Energy, Mines, Water and the Environment, Fouad Douiri provided opening remarks. During this meeting, IFNEC officially expanded to 63 Participant and Observer countries based on Bahrain joining as a full Participant country and Moldova joining as an Observer. In addition, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) participated in the meeting as permanent IFNEC Observer organizations.

IFNEC Steering Group Chair Edward McGinnis and Michael Wallace, who served as the moderator of the IFNEC Finance Workshop held in May 2012, provided a report to the Executive Committee and Steering Group on the findings of the London Finance Workshop. Mr. Wallace discussed the objectives of the Workshop, its structure and its key findings, including the importance of an effective independent regulatory body, the essential role of government commitment and support and the need for a sound business plan to underpin financing of any new nuclear project. Mr. Wallace also highlighted that the Workshop’s interactive case study format, with public and private sector stakeholders, was key to developing a greater understanding of complex areas related to nuclear finance. Mr. McGinnis presented proposed follow-on actions, including continuing a dialogue between key stakeholders, including the regulatory, energy planning and financial communities The Executive Committee received status reports from the Chair of the IFNEC Steering Group, Mr. Ed McGinnis; the Co-chairs of the Infrastructure Development Working Group, Dr. Al Burkart and Mr. John Mathieson; and the Co-Chairs of the Reliable Nuclear Fuel Services Working Group, Mr. Yves Kaluzny and Mr. Kazuhiro Suzuki. The working groups reported that significant progress had been made in the past year, a joint working group meeting was held to explore cooperation in infrastructure relating to nuclear fuel services, and that engagement with industry, universities and other external entities is progressing well.

At the conclusion of the meeting, a Joint Statement was issued by the Executive Committee.

For questions, please contact the IFNEC Secretariat at [email protected].  

MOROCCO TO HOST AND CHAIR THE OCTOBER 2012 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND STEERING GROUP MEETINGS

Morocco will host and chair the next Executive Committee ministerial meeting of the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation (IFNEC) on October 10, 2012, in Marrakech. Sixty-three nations and three inter-governmental organizations, including 31 full member countries, 31 observer countries and one newly-invited country, have been invited to attend the ministerial. The event will focus on the outcomes of the IFNEC Finance Workshop, address ways to support the development of nuclear energy infrastructure globally through workforce training and information sharing, and approaches for reliable nuclear fuel services among other key issues related to the safe, secure and responsible use of nuclear energy. A Steering Group meeting will also be held the day prior, on Tuesday, October 9, 2012.

For questions, please contact the IFNEC Secretariat at [email protected].  

2012 SUMMER STEERING GROUP AND WORKING GROUP MEETINGS

The next International Framework for Nuclear Cooperation (IFNEC) Steering Group meeting will be held on July 19, 2012 in the U.S. in College Station, Texas at Texas A&M; University. This is the meeting that was previously planned to be held in Romania in June. The Steering Group meeting will follow meetings of the IFNEC Infrastructure Development Working Group and Reliable Nuclear Fuel Services Working Group that will be held on July 17 and 18, also at Texas A&M; University. Additional details on these meetings will be posted when available.

THE INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR NUCLEAR COOPERATION HELD ITS FINANCE WORKSHOP ON MAY 9-10, 2012

The International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation (IFNEC) held a finance workshop on May 9-10, 2012, at the Lancaster House in London, United Kingdom. Over 120 representatives from 25 countries participated in interactive discussions related to the financing of nuclear projects in both expanding and emerging nuclear programs. These included IFNEC Steering Group representatives along with leaders in the financial, business and technical communities. The Workshop achieved its goal of bringing together experts representing a broad spectrum of stakeholders involved in financing nuclear energy projects to gain a better understanding of each other’s roles and approaches to nuclear energy financing. Through the expert-led scenario discussions about hypothetical projects in expanding and emerging nuclear programs and small breakout discussions with Workshop participants, attendees discussed the challenges and opportunities stakeholders interested in nuclear finance currently face.

The Workshop concluded with a broad range of outcomes and recommendations to be considered by the IFNEC Steering Group in July 2012. These include a list of potential actions that could be taken by IFNEC countries, individually and/or collectively, to address the identified barriers and opportunities associated with financing.

For questions, please contact the IFNEC Secretariat at [email protected].  

IFNEC FINANCE WORKSHOP

On May 9-10, 2012, the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation (IFNEC) will hold a finance workshop at the Lancaster House in London, England. The Workshop is intended to provide a forum where experts representing the full spectrum of key stakeholders involved in financing nuclear energy projects can meet in order to collectively gain a better understanding of each other’s roles and approaches to nuclear energy financing. These include the individual challenges and opportunities currently facing stakeholders along with those collective and practical actions that could be taken by IFNEC to address identified barriers and opportunities. Expert Panelists representing a range of stakeholders will participate in one of two scenario-based exercises during the conference. The concept behind the scenarios is to evaluate a hypothetical project proposal in a hypothetical country (one scenario will focus on an existing civil nuclear market and another on an emerging civil nuclear market) The goal is to bring the proposed project to bankability, and in the process, gain better insights in the role of each of the key stakeholders involved in financing and to identify the key challenges and opportunities that they face in each market. Following each of the two scenarios, panelists and Workshop participants will be divided into breakout sessions to discuss lessons learned with respect to financing challenges and opportunities, delve into greater detail on a specific issue or challenge related to financing and identify a notional list of actions that IFNEC countries can take, individually or collectively, related to financing. The breakout session findings will then be reported to the broader Plenary during the Workshop. The Workshop findings will be used as input to proposed recommendations for the IFNEC Steering Group to consider. A Workshop Summary Report was presented to the IFNEC Executive Committee at its October 2012 meeting in Marrakech, Morocco. The IFNEC Finance Workshop Summary Report and supporting Workshop materials can be found at: IFNEC FINANCE WORKSHOP (zip 10,081 KB)

For questions, please contact the IFNEC Secretariat at [email protected].  

About the International Framework

The International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation (IFNEC) is a forum of those States that share the common vision of the necessity of the safe use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes worldwide in a safe and secure manner.

The cooperation will be carried out under existing and, where appropriate, new bilateral arrangements as well as existing multilateral arrangements such as the Generation IV international Forum.

Today the International Framework consists of thirty-two (32) participants, three (3) permanent international observers; and 31 observer countries. The participants are: Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Republic of Korea, Lithuania, Morocco, the Netherlands, Oman, Poland, Romania, the Russian Federation, Senegal, Slovenia, UAE, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and the United States. The three permanent international nongovernment observers are: the International Atomic Agency, the Generation IV International Forum and Euratom.

The Statement of Mission is the policy basis for the International Framework. A country can become a participant by receiving an invitation from the existing participants and by endorsing the IFNEC Statement of Mission. Invited countries may attend meetings as observers to better understand the International Framework before a decision to join is made. International nongovernment organizations may serve as observers at the invitation of the participants.

The International Framework consists of a three-tiered organization. It receives its high-level direction from the IFNEC Executive Committee comprised of Ministerial-level officials. The Steering Group, whose members are designated by the Executive Committee, carries out actions on behalf of IFNEC at the direction of the Executive Committee. At a September 2007 meeting of the Executive Committee, two working groups were established to address matters concerning reliable nuclear fuel services and infrastructure development.