The Generation IV International Forum (GIF) starts a new chapter with the signature of the GIF Framework Agreement on 29 January 2025 at the OECD premises in Paris, France. Set to enter into force on 1 March 2025, the Framework Agreement will ensure the continuation of collaboration and projects under GIF beyond the expiration of the current Framework Agreement on 28 February 2025.
OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann addressed the Ambassadors and delegates at the signing ceremony underlining the GIF’s role in international co-operation:
“This is GIF’s 24th year as the bedrock of international research and development on advanced reactor concepts with improved safety, performance, and proliferation-resistant features. Work between national research laboratories, academia, and the private sector from GIF member countries under this framework continues to serve as among the world’s most important international initiatives in energy and science co-operation.”
OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann addresses the signing ceremony for the 2025 Generation IV International Forum Framework Agreement.
The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), which has supported GIF as the Technical Secretariat since its inception, will continue in this capacity under the new agreement.
NEA Director-General William D. Magwood, IV highlighted the importance of GIF’s work on new nuclear technologies:
“As someone who contributed to GIF’s launch in 2001, I have witnessed its growth and potential to support global progress in advanced nuclear energy systems. This new agreement is not just a continuation; it will pave the way for GIF’s mission to support a new era for nuclear energy.”
NEA Director-General William D. Magwood, IV addresses the signing ceremony for the 2025 Generation IV International Forum Framework Agreement.
During the ceremony, Canada, France, Japan and Switzerland signed the new GIF Framework Agreement. These signatures, which follow the earlier signatures by the United Kingdom and the United States in the margins of COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024, will bring the agreement into force on 1 March 2025.
Other major nuclear energy countries are expected to join the group of signatories of the new GIF Framework Agreement, further enhancing this collaborative effort on deployment of Generation IV nuclear energy systems at a time when all options to deliver low-carbon energy are critically needed.
About the Generation IV International Forum (GIF)
Established in 2001, GIF provides a platform for collaborative research and development on six Generation IV reactor concepts:
- Gas-cooled fast reactors (GFR)
- Lead-cooled fast reactors (LFR)
- Molten salt reactors (MSR)
- Sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFR)
- Supercritical-water-cooled reactors (SCWR)
- Very high-temperature reactors (VHTR)
GIF also provides a forum for collaboration on cross-cutting topics crucial to advancing nuclear systems such as safety and risk assessment, education and training, economics modelling, proliferation resistance and physical protection, advanced manufacturing, and non-electric applications such as hydrogen production and desalination.
About the GIF Framework Agreement
The GIF Framework Agreement is the international treaty that provides the legal foundation for GIF’s mission to advance nuclear energy technologies. It was the world's first agreement created to facilitate international research and development of Generation IV reactor concepts. Initially signed in Washington D.C. in 2005, it was extended in 2015 for another period of 10 years.