WORLD GROWING NUCLEAR

Proponents of nuclear energy assert that the current (third) generation of reactors (EPRs) is far safer than the ones that caused problems at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. Reportedly, the new reactors also create much less waste and that much of that waste is now reprocessable.

That’s what they say.

$100/barrel oil and the spectre of higher prices for emissions-generating energies make the promises easier to believe and the many dangers and problems of nuclear energy somehow easier to forget.

Present world power generation: coal (40%), natural gas (20%), hydro power (16%), nuclear energy (15%), oil (7%), New Energies (2%).

French utility giant EDF CEO Pierre Gadonneix argues that nuclear energy’s biggest challenge is its P.R.

Silly NewEnergyNews, thinking the biggest problems were that there’s no safe place to put the waste and terrorists want to get it to make dirty bombs and they want to blow up the plants and the plants are still not entirely, perfectly accident-free…

There's a clear trend. (click to enlarge)

Nuclear power gains steam in energy race
Anne Renaut, January 10, 2008 (AFP via Yahoo News)

WHO
Nations around the world; French nuclear power group Areva (Anne Lauvergeon, CEO); The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the United Nations (UN); The International Energy Agency (IEA) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); Leading private nuclear builders: Areva (France), Westinghouse (United States), Atomstroyexport (Russia);

WHAT
In a world constrained by energy supply, planning for new nuclear energy generators is growing as worries over nuclear weapons proliferation, nuclear accidents, nuclear waste, water consumption and cost are outweighed by sheer demand for emissions-free energy sources.

It's an energy-hungry world. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
- The UK government approved plans for a new nuclear plant January 10.
- The US is studying applications for its first new nuclear plant since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979.
- New nuclear reactors take 10 years to build. (Coal plant: 4 years; Natural gas plant: 2.5 years)

WHERE
- 442 nuclear reactors/201 nuclear power plants in 31 countries.
- 104 reactors in the US, 58 in France, 55 in Japan.
- French nuclear energy leader Areva is building a new plant in Finland.
- The IAEA is based in Vienna, New York and Geneva.
- The IEA is based in Paris.

Countries going nuclear. (click to enlarge)

WHY
- Areva CEO Lauvergeon predicts 100 to 300 new reactors will be built around the world by 2030. Areva plans to build 1/3 of them.
- In the wake of Iran’s adamant demand that the west allow it to build its own nuclear energy facilities, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Libya have all announced preliminary plans to follow suit.
- Energy-ravenous China recently ordered 2 third-generation European pressurized reactors (EPRs).
- India and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are negotiating for new Indian nuclear facilities in exchange for a promise not to weaponize.
- Though France is building and pushing nuclear, Italy remains reluctant to develop it and Germany is sticking by its commitment to do away with all nuclear by 2020. Sweden and Belgium have similar antinuclear polices.

The nuclear industry WISHES P.R. was its worst problem. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- UK Energy Secretary John Hutton: "[Nuclear energy] should have a role to play in this country's future energy mix, alongside other low-carbon sources…[nuclear energy is] tried and tested, safe and secure…Nuclear power will help us meet our twin energy challenges — ensuring secure supplies and tackling climate change…"
- John Sauven, executive director, Greenpeace: "[Disposal of nuclear waste] is still the roadblock to new nuclear power…Labour would like us all to think that they are close to finding that solution but in reality they are no closer to finding it than (former Prime Minister) Margaret Thatcher was."