The prominence of nuclear power as a major energy source will continue over the next several decades, according to projections made by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in its report, “Energy, Electricity and Nuclear Power for the period up to 2030”. The IAEA makes two annual projections concerning the growth of nuclear power, a low and a high. The low projection assumes that all nuclear capacity that is currently under construction or firmly in the development pipeline gets completed and attached to the grid, but no other capacity is added. In this low projection, there would be growth in capacity from: 370 Gw(e) at the end of 2006 to 447 Gw(e) in 2030. In the IAEA's high projection, which adds in additional reasonable and promising projects and plans, global nuclear capacity is estimated to rise to 679 Gw(e) in 2030. That would be an average growth rate of about 2.5 percent a year. “Our job is not so much to predict the future, but to prepare for it,” explains the IAEA's Alan McDonald, Nuclear Energy Analyst. “To that end, we update each year a high and low projection to establish the range of uncertainty we ought to be prepared for.” Nuclear power's share of worldwide electricity production rose from less than 1 percent in 1960 to 16 percent in 1986, and that percentage has held essentially constant in the 21 years. Nuclear electricity generation has grown steadily at the same pace as overall global electricity generation. At the close of 2006, nuclear provided about 15 percent of total electricity worldwide. There were 435 operating nuclear reactors around the world, and 29 more were under construction. The US had the most with 103 operating units. France was next with 59. Japan followed with 55, plus one more under construction; and Russia had 31 operating, and seven more under construction. Of the 30 countries with nuclear power, the percentage of electricity supplied by nuclear ranged widely: from a high of 78 percent in France; to 54 percent in Belgium; 39 percent in Republic of Korea; 37 percent in Switzerland; 30 percent in Japan; 19 percent in the US; 16 percent in Russia; 4 percent in South Africa; and 2 percent in China. Present nuclear power plant expansion is centered in Asia: 15 of the 29 units under construction at the end of 2006 were in Asia. Moreover, 26 of the last 36 reactors to have been connected to the grid were in Asia. India currently gets less than 3 percent of its electricity from nuclear, but at the end of 2006 it had one-quarter of the nuclear construction - 7 of the world's 29 reactors that were under construction. India's plans are even more impressive: an 8-fold increase by 2022 to 10 percent of the electricity supply and a 75-fold increase by 2052 to reach 26 percent of the electricity supply. A 75-fold increase works out to an average of 9.4 percent per year, about the same as average global nuclear growth from 1970 through 2004. So, it is hardly unprecedented. China is experiencing huge energy growth and is trying to expand every source it can, including nuclear power. It has four reactors under construction and plans a nearly five-fold expansion by just 2020. Because China is growing so fast, this would still amount to only 4 percent of total electricity. Russia had 31 operating reactors, five under construction and significant expansion plans. There's a lot of discussion in Russia of becoming a full fuel-service provider, including services like leasing fuel, reprocessing spent fuel for countries that are interested, and even leasing reactors. Japan had 55 reactors in operation, one under construction, and plans to increase nuclear power's share of electricity from 30 percent in 2006 to more than 40 percent within the next decade. South Korea connected its 20th reactor just last year, has another under construction and has broken ground to start building two more. Nuclear power already supplies 39 percent of its electricity. Europe is a good example of “one size does not fit all.” Altogether it had 166 reactors in operation and six under construction. However, there are several nuclear prohibition countries like Austria, Italy, Denmark, and Ireland. Nonetheless, there are nuclear phase-out countries like Germany and Belgium. There are also nuclear expansion programs in Finland, France, Bulgaria, and Ukraine. Finland started construction in 2005 on Olkiluoto-3, which is the first new Western European construction since 1991. France plans to start its next plant in 2007. Several countries with nuclear power are still pondering future plans. The UK, with 19 operating plants, many of which are relatively old, had been the most uncertain, until recently. Although a final policy decision on nuclear power will await the results of a public consultation now underway, a whitepaper on energy published in May 2007 concluded that “...having reviewed the evidence and information available, we believe that the advantages [of new nuclear power] outweigh the disadvantages and that the disadvantages can be effectively managed. On this basis, the Government's preliminary view is that it is in the public's interest to give the private sector the option of investing in new nuclear power stations.” The US had 103 reactors providing 19 percent of the country's electricity. For the last few decades, the main developments have been improved capacity factors, power increases at existing plants, and license renewals. Currently, 48 reactors have already received 20-year renewals, so their licensed lifetimes are 60 years. Altogether three-quarters of the US reactors either: already have license renewals, have applied for them, or have stated their intention to apply. There have been a lot of announced intentions (about 30 new reactors' worth) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is now reviewing four Early Site Permit applications. Even the oil and gas rich Gulf Arab states expect to soon finalize studies on a proposed civil nuclear program within 18 months and start co-operating with the UN nuclear watchdog, and then go to international expert firms to implementation plans ... that meet the Gulf States' needs for 30 years as per Gulf Cooperation Council announced in December 2006. Despite what the G8 is debating in Japan on carbon foot-print, the general belief on nuclear industry is that building enough nuclear power stations to make a meaningful reduction in greenhouse gas emissions would cost trillions of dollars, create tens of thousands of tons of lethal high-level radioactive waste, contribute to further proliferation of nuclear weapons materials, and result in a Chernobyl-scale accident once every decade. Perhaps most significantly, it will squander the resources necessary to implement meaningful climate change solutions. In India, political turmoil goes on nuclear issues, let us not take it as political, regional or religious issue, let the energy experts debate it in the interest of our nation and may take a decision after exploring all alternatives available potentials like coal, hydro as well as sustainable energy recourses. Once they decide, I am sure every Indian will stand behind them with full trust. __
