Late Lessons from Chernobyl , Early Warnings from Fukushima NUCLEAR MONITOR (original) (raw)

2013

At present, nuclear energy is used in 31 countries, producing roughly 13 % of the world’s commercial electricity, and currently 15 countries are in the process of planning the building of new nuclear capacity. There are 435 nuclear power reactors in operation around the world--at the peak of nuclear generation in 2002 there were 444--of which 189 are in pan-Europe and the Russian Federation, comprising about one third of the world’s 146 civil reactors, with France alone generating close to half of the EU’s nuclear production from 58 plants (Schnieder et al, 2011; European Nuclear Society, 2012).

Global nuclear energy: an uncertain future

AIMS Energy Journal, 2021

Nuclear energy currently accounts for a declining share of global electricity, but it is possible that rising concerns about global climate change and China's ambitious nuclear program could reverse this trend. This review attempts to assess the global future of nuclear power, showing how the optimistic forecasts in the early days of nuclear power have been replaced by far more modest forecasts. The review first discusses the controversies surrounding nuclear power. It then briefly examines the prospects for three proposed reactors of the future: Small Modular Reactors; Generation IV breeder reactors; fusion reactors. It finally discusses the social and political context for nuclear power, both today and in the future.

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