More than a hundred of participants joined the 5th Central & Eastern Europe Nuclear industry Congress in Prague. The event intended to provide opportunities throughout the entire nuclear power plant life cycle, but it switched to a patchwork of infomercials, government reporting generalities, planning and achievements.
The Arab Atomic Energy Agency (AAEA) and the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority (EAEA) organized the 14th Arab Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in the paradise of Sharm El-Sheikh, in the South Sinai. The event was sponsored par Rosatom, Atomtex and the Joint Institute of Nuclear Research (JINR). For 5 days, around 190 presentations and papers were shared by the experts from almost all Arabic countries (the UAE did not come, and Saudi Arabia only sent one person from the military side). Rosatom network is well established. The director for Middle East and Africa, Alexander Voronkov introduced in perfect Arabic the group and then indicated the strategy in… read more →
Bringing the suppliers to the buyers, especially when this is Rosatom, quite a great positioning for an exhibition. The location was ideal, close to the Red Square and the trendy district of Moscow. Moreover, the content of Atomex would potentially attract any supplier: Training to become a supplier of Rosatom, participation in various workshops, B2B meetings with the buyers (AOS, AEM, TVEL…), and the possibility to have a booth in order to show your products to the audience. The first discussion was right on the spot: Atomstroyexport and Raos described in detail the process to become a supplier, whether you are Russian or foreigner. There was a comprehensive overview of… read more →
For its third edition, WNE changed its location to Paris Nord. In the last two editions, most of the critics targeted the French focus of the event. This time, the organizers attracted more foreign companies to make WNE a symbol of the nuclear world. The big ones More foreign companies came to WNE, but WNE still does not reflect the world of nuclear. The Chinese had the most impressive booth among the foreigners, including a specific space for the HPR1000. The Russians had a large space, but the representatives were young and despite the visit of Alexei Likhachev, there was no illustration of the Russian Technological capability. The Second League The… read more →
PowerGen used to be ten years ago a respectable exhibition with tenths of manufacturer, operators, engineering companies. In the last session organized in Vienna, under the strange name of “Electrify Europe”we witnessed a Zombie event. What is a Zombie event? It looks like it is alive, but it goes nowhere, and the place is unexciting. Despite worthy ideas, Electrify Europe , or Powergen was dying in Vienna, and we received such feedback from desperate exhibitors. PowerGen has everything to succeed in Vienna: a great location, many interesting exhibitors, some speakers, and even a free open bar! Why was Powergen so boring? Why this exhibition will merge with the Utilities next… read more →
What can we say about Achema? We have been waiting three years to get back in Frankfurt for the best event in the word. Chemical sounds definitively like Germany. We can even add that Achema is a German showcase, then the rest of the world.This session in June had the same quality, public and outcome than three years ago. The event was a frenzy, business focused with a German touch. During this week in Achema, we were able to deal with all our favorite fields: chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, nuclear, science, engineering, networking and digitalization. We were surprised by the lack of attendees from China and India, which indicated clearly their… read more →
Dusseldorf showcased more than 1,000 exhibitors between April 16-20. That was a village in the city. The event was well organized, as usual, during five days, and gave me two lessons: this industry is dying in some parts and flourishing in others, and the players are more diverse. The wire and other machine-tools displayed a wide competition but finally the technology is still the same as 100 years ago. My feeling is the industry in general is improving the quality, the diversity but the innovation is still limited. The technology used for wires, for bending tubes, for the forging is still the same. Therefore a manufacturer focus on clients management,… read more →
Nuclear Industry China was held between March 28-31 in Beijing. This year showcased 214 exhibitors, 60% of them were Chinese manufacturer. I was first surprized by several characteristics: the size of the event (half of the previous one), the number of visitors (the hall was too often empty), the mood of the exhibitors (“let’s wait and hope for a new project”). NIC exhibited several characteristics of the domestic industry, from the regional clustering (Haiyan, Haiyang, Sichuan, Heilongjiang, Shanghai), the showcase of new reactors such as the Hualong (from CNNC, from CGN and from the merger), the CAP1400, the HTGR, the TWR, the SMR (Linglong, ACP100), the Yanlong pool-type low-temperature heating reactor… read more →
The International Nuclear Power Plant Summit was held between March 6-7 in Istanbul. For the fifth year, around 500 persons came to this burgeoning market to understand what is possible to achieve. This year, the exhibition revealed several properties of what is to expect in Turkey: The large number of Turkish exhibitors: compared to the last two events, the number of domestic exhibitors increased, largely due to the arrival of new comers in the industry, from the civil engineering sector. Most of the companies interviewed told us the reasons for their participation is the discovery of the opportunities, the approach of new clients, the meetings with new clients, and to… read more →