NuclearFuture
Table 1: World Nuclear Electricity Generation
Country Generation, 2007 Operable Reactors
kWh (bn) % Total No. MWe
The experience of waste management and
Argentina 6.7 6.2 2 935
decommissioning has also been unhelpful. The Armenia 2.35 43.5 1 376
reprocessing of used nuclear fuel has been a major Belgium 46 54 7 5,728
part of the UK’s strategy, as it has in several other
Brazil 11.7 2.8 2 1,901
countries.Yetthisprogramme,centredatSellafield,
Bulgaria 13.7 32 2 1,906
has also been subject to delays, technical problems
Canada 88.2 14.7 18 12,652
andattendantcostoverruns.Beyondthis,thefailure
China 59.3 1.9 11 8,587
to agree on public policy for the disposal of
CzechRepublic 24.6 30.3 6 3,472
Finland 22.5 29 4 2,696
radioactivewasteshasbeenabarriertoexplaining
France 420.1 77 59 63,473
that the industry has sound technical solutions
Germany 133.2 26 17 20,339
available, which can be readily financed as part of
Hungary 13.9 37 4 1,826
the nuclear fuel cost. Finally, the huge sums now
India 15.8 2.5 17 3,779
required to decommission nuclear sites in the UK Japan 267 27.5 53 46,236
haveattractedalotofattention.Theoverwhelming KoreaRO(South) 136.6 35.3 20 17,716
majorityofthisisattributabletotheearlydaysofthe
Lithuania 9.1 64.4 1 1,185
military-based programme when there was a great
Mexico 9.95 4.6 2 1,310
deal of experimentation taking place, but there is
Netherlands 4.0 4.1 1 485
neverthelessanassumptionthatthecivilindustryis
Pakistan 2.3 2.34 2 400
incapable of financing its decommissioning
Romania 7.1 13 2 1,310
Russia 148 16 31 21,743
liabilitiesandmustseekrecoursetothepublicpurse.
Slovakia 14.2 54 4 1,686
The experience of nuclear power in France
Slovenia 5.4 42 1 696
contrastsconsiderablywiththatoftheUK.France
SouthAfrica 12.6 5.5 2 1,842
took a long-term strategic decision in the
Spain 52.7 17.4 8 7,448
aftermath of the first oil shock in 1973 to use Sweden 64.3 46 10 9,016
nuclearpowertoaddressitsweaknessesinenergy Switzerland 26.5 43 5 3,220
security, given its poor access to resources. This
Ukraine 87.2 48 15 13,168
has been backed by a consistency in government
UnitedKingdom 57.5 15 19 11,035
policy-making, sound planning and following up
USA 806.6 19.4 104 100,845
with sufficient financial and other resources to World * 2,608 15 436 371,927
allow nuclear to supply almost 80% of France’s * The world total includes six reactors operating in Taiwan with a combined
electricity today. By adopting a good reactor
capacityof4,916MWe,whichgeneratedatotalof39bnkWhin2007(accounting
design, then replicating this in great numbers
for19.3%ofTaiwan’stotalelectricitygeneration).
through three succeeding generations of
Sources:Reactordata:WNAto1/2/09.IAEAfornuclearelectricityproduction&
increasing power ratings, the country has
percentageofelectricity(%e)5/08.
achieved relatively cheap and secure electricity supplies, with current operating reactors are doing very well and earning
very little environmental impact. Waste management and significant profits for their owners at a time of generally high
decommissioning have also been handled much more electricity prices. The excellent historical performance of the
competently than in the UK. Finnish reactors (two of which are of Soviet design) has
Elsewhere in Europe, the results have been more mixed. undoubtedly been a major factor behind the decision to
Germany and Sweden have both had generally successful constructafifthreactorandalsotoproduceplansforasixth.
nuclearprogrammesbutembarkedonslownuclearphase-out In Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, attention
policies, under pressure from minority government parties of overthepasttwentyyearshashadtobefocusedonimproving
a green hue. The Swedish decision has recently been reversed the safety of flawed reactor designs in the aftermath of the
and Germany may eventually follow. Italy turned away from Chernobyl accident – as well as completing reactors under
nuclear after early reactors were completed but now feels construction at the time of the fall of the Soviet Union. This
vulnerable to fossil fuel prices and power imports. It is period is now essentially over, with both safety and economic
therefore now seriously looking at nuclear once again. The operationgreatlyenhanced,andanewerawherenewnuclear
general picture everywhere is much the same in that the buildisaseriouspossibilityhasbeenentered.
worldPower2009 153
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