(Bloomberg) -- Nuclear power has long been on the decline, its share of the world’s electricity generation halving from 18% in the mid-1990s to 9% today. Now there are signs of a revival.
While China, India and Russia never stopped expanding their nuclear industries, many Western countries moved the other way due to the technology’s heavy construction costs and an abundance of cheaper alternatives.
More recently, concern about global warming and the security of energy supplies amid Russia’s war in Ukraine has sparked renewed interest in the energy released by splitting atoms.
How are countries reinvesting in nuclear energy?
Some are committing to build new, large nuclear power plants. More are spending money to extend the lifetime of existing facilities. Many of the reactors in wealthy countries are approaching the end of their original design life span, which is usually 40 years. A reactor’s longevity can be extended, but only with significant investment in refurbishment.
A number of countries are also investing in so-called small modular reactors. The idea is that standardized parts would be built in factories and shipped for assembly on site, thereby reducing the cost of the reactors. But the commercialization of SMRs has been delayed, with deployment still years away.
Who’s taking action?
- Among Western nations, the UK and France lead the pack. The UK, where reactors currently generate about 15% of electricity, wants to boost that figure to 25% by 2050, in part by building as many as eight large reactors. France, which already generates 70% of its electricity with nuclear power, plans to build six new units while also extending the life span of existing reactors.
- Japan, once among the world’s biggest nuclear-power generators, is struggling to reboot its industry following the 2011 disaster at its Fukushima plant, where meltdowns at three units following an earthquake and tsunami forced more than 100,000 people to relocate. It nevertheless wants to lift atomic power’s contribution in the electricity mix to 50% by 2030.
- Elsewhere in Europe: Hungary is building a pair of new reactors with Russia’s Rosatom Corp. The Czech Republic picked Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. to build two units and Poland chose Westinghouse Electric Corp. to construct its first plant, though financing in both cases has yet to be secured. Germany shut its final nuclear reactor in April 2023, but continues playing a major role in global nuclear fuel markets.
- The US finished its first new reactor in three decades in June but doesn’t have any new projects planned, with investors instead focused on developing SMRs and reviving plants that were prematurely shuttered. The United Arab Emirates began operating its fourth new reactor in March 2024. South Korea, which built the UAE plant, wants to construct at least three new reactors domestically by the next decade and sell more units abroad. Other countries building plants include Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Iran, Russia and Turkey.
What are China, India and Russia doing?
Hungry for energy, China has rapidly accelerated its use of nuclear energy and had 28 reactors under construction at the end of 2024. India is building seven reactors. Russia’s Rosatom has four under construction domestically and another 19 in different countries, making it the world’s biggest exporter of nuclear technology.
What are the arguments against nuclear power?
Opponents say Fukushima was only the most recent calamity to demonstrate that nuclear power is too dangerous. Accidents also released radiation at Three Mile Island in the US in 1979 and Chernobyl in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union, seven years later.
There’s also the expense and environmental risks of disposing of reactor waste, which can remain dangerously radioactive for thousands of years.
Critics cite large cost overruns that have plagued new reactor projects in the US and Europe. Construction of large new plants can require a decade, which won’t be fast enough for many countries that have committed to cutting greenhouse gas pollution by half by 2030. Opponents argue that cleaner and safer forms of energy, such as solar and wind power backed up by batteries, can be deployed more quickly.
What are the arguments for nuclear power?
Proponents point out that accidents are rare and that fossil fuels kill more people annually via accidents and pollution. (Public health studies show there have been no adverse health effects to radiation exposure from the Fukushima accident.) Nuclear advocates also insist that the smaller, advanced reactors of the future will be even safer.
The choice, they argue, isn’t between nuclear energy and renewables but rather between the two working in tandem and a failure to avert the worst outcomes of climate change. Low-carbon sources provided about two-fifths of the world’s electricity supply in 2023 — a figure expected to rise to 50% by 2026 as renewable energy is scaled up and more nuclear power stays online.
The case for nuclear as a climate change solution got a boost in 2022, when European Union lawmakers voted to allow nuclear energy projects to be labeled as green investments.
This year, giant US tech companies have been turning to nuclear as a climate—friendly power source for the massive data centers they are building to run artificial intelligence systems.
--With assistance from Anna Shiryaevskaya.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.