"There's certainly an expansion in nuclear power, especially in Asia. Sixty-one reactors are under construction worldwide and 40 of these are being built in Asia," Mr Scott Peterson of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) in the United States told Today.
"Even the UAE in the Gulf, which you would think would use oil and gas," is embracing nuclear power, said Mr Ian Cronshaw, a top official at the Paris-based International Energy Agency. "It's definitely fair to talk about a nuclear renaissance."
There are strong reasons for this trend. At a time of volatile gas prices, nuclear energy could ensure "stable" electricity prices, said Mr Cronshaw, highlighting an advantage of nuclear power amid rising energy use worldwide.
In a world confronting climate change, nuclear is a carbon-free alternative to fossil fuels and it provides energy security, he said.
Nuclear power is also an energy-dense resource, leaving a small amount of radioactive residue or spent fuel, and requiring less space than renewable energy projects such as wind farms, the industry says.
"Uranium has tremendous energy density," said Mr Peterson, the NEI's vice-president of communications. "The amount of spent fuel that was used to provide electricity for a family of four in the US during their lifetimes is about the size of a 12-ounce can - a Coca-Cola can."
The greatest growth in nuclear generation is expected in China, Japan, South Korea and India, according to the London-based World Nuclear Association (WNA).
In contrast, the US is emerging from a 30-year period in which few new reactors were built and the European scene has remained relatively dormant, activists and industry professionals noted.
In South-east Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam have expressed interest in nuclear power and Singapore announced earlier this year it was conducting a feasibility study. More at: http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC101023-0000036/An-Asian-nuclear-renaissance
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