INPRO Programme

INPRO supports Member States in their long-term planning for deploying sustainable nuclear energy. It provides direct support related to advanced and innovative nuclear energy system scenario modeling, analysis, and sustainability assessment using the INPRO Methodology and through facilitating dialogue, cooperation and collaboration among Member States in their respective roles as nuclear energy technology developers, suppliers and customers.

INPRO brings together nuclear technology developers, suppliers and customers to jointly consider international and national actions, which could result in required innovations in nuclear reactors, fuel cycles and institutional approaches, to achieve viable and sustainable nuclear energy systems at national, regional and global levels. In so doing, Member States can move forward more deliberately in their strategic energy planning and decision making to help achieve important national and international outcomes.

INPRO’s activities are coordinated by the INPRO Section in the Department of Nuclear Energy at the IAEA in close cooperation with INPRO Members and other programmes in the IAEA. The current activities are organized in four major tasks:

Task 1: Global scenarios

Using developed scientific-technical analysis tools, INPRO develops national, regional and global sustainable nuclear energy scenarios that lead to a global vision of sustainable nuclear energy development in the current century and beyond. Specifically, under the "Global scenarios" task, INPRO develops tools to implement long term material flow and economic analysis and planning of nuclear energy systems, comparative evaluation of nuclear energy system /scenario options and road mapping towards enhanced nuclear energy sustainability.

Task 2: Innovations

The development of both technical and institutional innovations is necessary for nuclear energy to play a sustainable role in the global energy supply. This INPRO task aims to support the investigation of innovative nuclear energy technologies, related RD&D and institutional arrangements which can be instrumental in developing sustainable nuclear energy system as well as in supporting Member States to pursue those innovations. The primary focus of this Task is to investigate issues that are crucial to support increased public acceptance and the sustainability of nuclear energy systems.

Task 3: Sustainability Assessment and Strategies

It is important that there be a broadly accepted technical metric defining nuclear energy system sustainability. To support the sustainable development of nuclear energy systems – nationally, regionally and globally – the INPRO Methodology was developed as a holistic, technically sound, consensus assessment approach and a multidimensional nuclear energy system sustainability metric. The INPRO Section can provide INPRO Member States with requested training and guidance on the use of the INPRO Methodology to perform a nuclear energy system sustainability assessment (NESA).

 Task 4: Dialogue and Outreach

The INPRO Section provides an international venue for Member States’ guidance, for policy coordination and coordination with other international organizations and initiatives, bringing together technology holders and users to exchange ideas and information on long-range nuclear energy system strategies, global nuclear energy scenarios, and related technical and institutional innovations. The Dialogue and Outreach Task serves as a catalyst to encourage international cooperation through exchange of information among all involved stakeholders. Outreach to other international programmes and initiatives and INPRO training activities on nuclear technology innovations and sustainability, is central to achieving the stated objectives of INPRO.