In the first of a series of IJGlobal Infra Dig podcasts, nuclear power luminary Dr Tim Stone CBE sets the stall for a massive wave of investments in the UK and internationally as the tide of opinion turns in favour of base-load solutions.

Tim – who was appointed chair of the UK's Nuclear Industry Association in October 2018 and has been chair of the Nuclear Risk Insurers for more than 6 years – is an internationally-renowned champion of nuclear energy as a primary solution to a low-carbon future and a well-known figure in the infrastructure finance community.

In this podcast, Tim delves into the UK nuclear industry, identifying a massive requirement to build new capacity in the coming years before spotting trends across the international scene, comparing it with large-scale alternatives like offshore wind and the burgeoning hydrogen market.

In the UK alone, nuclear plays is significant role, in 2020 nuclear accounting for 16% of the nation’s energy mix – down from 17% the year before – from 13 nuclear reactors at 6 locations.

If Tim (pictured right) has a particularly strong message, it is quite simply: “Just build it.”

As he points out in this 19-minute podcast: “The penny has dropped… that nuclear is vital as one of the paths to Net Zero.”

The next 2 podcasts will be published over the course of the coming few weeks where Tim will again focus primarily on nuclear, taking a look at the financing element and the impact of Small Nuclear Reactor (SNR) technology.

The final podcast in this series with Dr Tim Stone will centre on Advanced Modular Reactors (AMR) and the role that will be played by hydrogen and – the holy grail for nuclear – fusion.