Global Supply Chain and Localization, Issues and Opportunities: A Conference on the Customer Dialogue 

Sponsored by the Nuclear Supplier and Customer Countries Engagement Group (NSCCEG)

This conference provided a unique opportunity for cooperation between nuclear power project suppliers and customer countries on two issues of critical interest:

• The Global Supply Chain: The global supply chain serves as one of the essential cornerstones of success for every project while presenting challenges including impact to cost and schedule,
and placing quality assurance burdens on the customer country safety regulator. The conference will explore the experience of suppliers and customer countries to better understand the full range of challenges presented by the global supply chain and how they can be effectively addressed.

• Localization: The customer country often will want to maximize the economic opportunities presented by a nuclear power project through the use of local resources. Localization presents challenges — the cost of qualifying new supply chains, and the risks that new supply chains present. There are a number of successful projects where localization was accomplished to the satisfaction of both the supplier and the customer country. The conference will explore how the opportunities presented by localization can be coordinated with the supplier, and effectively realized.

This conference was designed to be of interest to all IFNEC member countries and provide the various stakeholders, including regulators, planning authorities, financial institutions and industry, the opportunity to observe and participate in discussions of practical interest and value. The primary audience for the conference included IFNEC members with future plans for developing nuclear power projects. In addition, IFNEC member supplier countries will benefit from the discussions that further clarify the interests of potential customer countries.

A report of the Conference proceedings will be made publicly available.