Global Status of Commercial Nuclear Power

Vojin Joksimovich, PhD*
Overview
It is highly questionable and misleading to characterize the global status of nuclear power as “Dawn or Dusk” as Mycle Schneider asserted in the April 2014 issue^[1]. This author asserts that it is neither dawn nor dusk. It is a temporary stagnation with almost certain rapid rise in the longer term. Current nuclear electricity generation has been distorted by closure of eight German plants and 48 idled Japanese plants after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident. In April 2014 the Japanese cabinet has given its approval to an energy policy, three years in the making, which recommends restart of idled plants.
Nuclear power plants were commercialized in the early 1960s. The construction (new builds) peaked in the late 1970s. The 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the US and the 1986 Chernobyl accident in Ukraine led to phase-outs, slowdowns and moratoriums in a number of countries, mostly OECD countries. The need for base-load power, excellent performance of operating plants, economics and carbon-free electricity led to a nuclear renaissance in the 2005-2006 timeframe. The Great recession of 2007-2008, ongoing conservation efforts and subsequently the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan have resulted in yet other slowdowns, moratoriums and phase-outs in some western countries. In the US cheap natural gas has been a key economic factor.
However, the current stagnation is temporary. Global electricity demand is expected to increase 50% by 2025. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has projected nuclear capacity to increase from the existing 371 GW to 578 GW^[2].

http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/201407/global.cfm