Worldwide Nuclear Power
3 percent of its electricity from nuclear, but at the end of 2006 it had one-quarter of the nuclear construction — 7 of the world’s 29 reactors which were under construction. India’s plans are even more impressive: an eight-fold increase by 2022 to 10 percent of the electricity supply and a seventy-five-fold increase by 2052 to reach 26 percent of the electricity supply. A seventy-five-fold increase works out to an average of 9.4 percent a year, about the same as average global nuclear growth from 1970 through 2004.
* China is experiencing huge energy growth and is trying to expand every source it can, including nuclear power. It has four reactors under construction and plans a nearly five-fold expansion by just 2020. Because China is growing so fast this would still amount to only 4 percent of total electricity.
* Russia had thirty-one operating reactors, five under construction, and significant expansion plans. There’s a lot of discussion in Russia of becoming a full fuel-service provider, including services such as leasing fuel, reprocessing spent fuel for countries which are interested, and even leasing reactors. Russia is also looking into building floating reactors: These reactors will be placed on barges and used to provide power to remote cities in northen Siberia.
* Japan had fifty-five reactors in operation, one under construction, and plans to increase nuclear power’s share of electricity from 30 percent in 2006 to more than 40 percent within the next decade.
* South Korea connected its twentieth reactor just last year, has another under construction, and has broken ground to start building two more. Nuclear power already supplies 39 percent of its electricity.
* Europe offers a patchwork of policies and initiatives. Europe had 166 reactors in operation and six under construction, but there are several nuclear prohibition countries such as Austria, Italy, Denmark, and Ireland, and there are nuclear phase-out plans in countries such as Germany and Belgium. There are also nuclear expansion programmes in Finland, France, Bulgaria, and Ukraine. Finland started construction in 2005 on Olkiluoto-3, which is the first new Western European construction since 1991. France plans to start its next plant in 2007.
* Several countries with nuclear power are still pondering future plans. The United Kingdom, with nineteen operating plants, many of which are relatively old, had been the most uncertain until recently. A final policy decision on nuclear power will await the results of a public consultation now underway, but a White Paper on energy published in May 2007 concluded that “…having reviewed the evidence and information available we believe that the advantages [of new nuclear power] outweigh the disadvantages and that the disadvantages can be effectively managed. On this basis, the Government´s preliminary view is that it is in the public´s interest to give the private sector the option of investing in new nuclear power stations.”
* The United States had 103 reactors providing 19 percent of the country’s electricity. For the last few decades the main developments have been improved capacity factors, power increases at existing plants and license renewals. Currently, forty-eight reactors have already received twenty-year renewals, so their licensed lifetimes are sixty years. Altogether three-quarters of the U.S. reactors either already have license renewals, have applied for them, or have stated their intention to apply. There have been many plans announced — about thirty new reactors’ worth — and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is now reviewing four Early Site Permit applications.
