TOKYO, JAPAN - U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham announced today that the Generation IV International Forum (GIF), comprised of ten leading nuclear nations meeting in Japan this week, have reached agreement on six Generation IV nuclear energy systems to be pursued for joint development. Generation IV nuclear energy systems are next generation, advanced nuclear reactor and fuel cycle technologies available after this decade but before 2030 that represent significant advances in economics, safety, reliability, proliferation-resistance and waste minimization.

The activities of the GIF and the Generation IV initiative support the recommendation in the Bush Administration's National Energy Policy to pursue research in collaboration with international partners to develop the next generation of nuclear technologies.

"Ten countries, key to the future of nuclear power, have now selected six technologies that they believe represent the future shape of nuclear energy and are now in the process of partnering to bring these technologies to reality," Secretary Abraham said. "This unprecedented accomplishment points not only to a future when the original promise of nuclear energy will be fulfilled, but to one that shows that the future of nuclear is an international future, involving the collective skills, the expertise and resources of many countries."

For the last year, more than 100 experts from the ten GIF countries, as well as the Organization of Economic Cooperation Development Nuclear Energy Agency, the European Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency have participated in the development of a Generation IV technology roadmap. With the completion of this roadmap, the GIF has converged on the following six next generation technologies for future bilateral and multilateral cooperation:

• Gas-cooled fast reactor systems
• Lead alloy liquid metal-cooled reactor systems
• Molten salt reactor systems
• Sodium liquid metal-cooled reactor systems
• Supercritical water-cooled reactor systems
• Very high temperature gas reactor systems

The GIF, initiated in January 2000 and formally chartered in July 2001, is an international collective represented by the governments of leading nuclear nations that agree that nuclear energy is important to the future world energy security and economic prosperity and are dedicated to joint development of the next generation of nuclear energy systems. In addition to the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, the Republic of Korea, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom are members of the GIF.

Additional information on the Energy Department's nuclear energy initiatives can be found at www.nuclear.gov.

The Secretary's Generation IV Forum speech
Overview of Generation IV Technology Roadmap(pdf)
Generation IV International Forum: Update(pdf)

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