The Current State of Play

Source: IAEA, 2014

Throughout this blog I have been referring to the possibility of a global expansion in nuclear power, so how likely is it? The table above gives  the current state of play. It can be seen that the main force behind a nuclear future is China, it is already set to more than double its generating capacity in the next ten years. Other plants under construction in significant number are mostly isolated to Asia, with phaseouts in progress in many former European supporters of Nuclear power (i.e. Germany, Switzerland and Belgium). Furthermore in the US, the largest producer, capacity has been undergoing a constant reduction every year since 2007. At present then a widespread nuclear resurgence appears unlikely, however looking further ahead many more plants are planned, much will depend on the decisions made in the developing world, which is set to make up the majority of global energy demand by 2050.