1. State of Nuclear Power
Helsinki, 8 May 2009

2. State of Nuclear Power
As of today: 436 reactors worldwide, total 370,221 MWe
Ref: IAEA PRIS, graph Mycle Schneider

3. State of Nuclear Power Everyone talks about nuclear renaissance, but…
Year 2008:
Newly added to grid: 0 reactors
Final shutdown: 1 reactor (Slovakia, 440 MW)
Previous five years since 2004:
Newly added to grid: 14 reactors (i.e. 3 units, or 2,390 MW per year)
Final shutdown: 18 reactors
New construction: 24 units (11 China, 4 Korea, 3 Russia, 2 Japan, 1 Finland, 1 France, 1 India, 1 Pakistan)
Ref: IAEA PRIS

4. State of Nuclear Power Share in primary energy demand in 2006:
Nuclear 5.8 % (with 2,793 TWh)
Hydro 2.2 % (with 3,035 TWh)
Other renewables 10.7 %
Share in power/electricity production:
Nuclear 14.8 %
Hydro 16 %
Other RE 2.3 %
Ref: IEA/OECD, WEO 2008

5. State of Nuclear Power
Projected Nuclear Expansion: International Energy Agency
10,000 TWh/y
Nuclear power generation to grow from today’s 2,600 TWh/y to 10,000 TWh/y in 2050
That would need to have 1,280 new large (1,000 MW equivalent) reactors running
Expenses would reach 6 to 10 trillion USD given current costs.
2,600 TWh/y
1956
2008
2050
Ref: IEA/OECD, ETP 2008

6. State of Nuclear Power Projected Nuclear Expansion:
yet…nuclear contributes only 6 % to the needed GHG cut
Ref: IEA/OECD, ETP 2008

7. State of Nuclear Power
Projected Nuclear Expansion – implication for waste:
Those 1,280 new large reactors would produce about 25,000 tons of spent fuel every year.
Every ton of typical spent fuel contains 1 % of plutonium, mostly isotope Pu-239 with half life of 24,000 years.
This would mean every year additional 250 tons of plutonium – enough for 25,000 nuclear bombs. And it would stay around for more than 100,000 years.
But we have no solution for safe disposal and we are facing increasing hazards of proliferation.

8. State of Nuclear Power
"To preserve the nuclear option for the future requires overcoming the four challenges described above: costs, safety, proliferation, and wastes. These challenges will escalate if a significant number of new nuclear generating plants are built in a growing number of countries.” (MIT, 2003)
“Safety, weapons proliferation and waste remain as constraints.”
(IPCC, Fourth Assessment Report 2007)
"Nuclear power can be a potentially attractive option for enhancing the security of electricity supply – if concerns about plant safety, nuclear waste disposal and the risk of proliferation can be solved."
(IEA/OECD, World Energy Outlook 2006)

9. Thank you for attention!
State of Nuclear Power
Thank you for attention!
Jan Beránek
Greenpeace International
Tel

10. State of Nuclear Power