Rooppur, Akkuyu, Vogtle, HPC, Flamanville, Saeul Bushehr, etc., the nuclear power industry has never been so dynamic.
In March 2023, the World Nuclear Association reported 60 nuclear power reactors under construction in 15 countries.
This recent interest in nuclear energy is strongly linked to climate challenges and the energy crisis. People increasingly recognize nuclear energy as a key tool, alongside renewable energies, to achieve carbon neutrality for a number of reasons:
– Nuclear power is a low ghg emission energy source. For every 1kwh produced, nuclear energy emits 1/3 less CO2 than solar PVs;
– Nuclear energy can provide safe, resilient and dispatchable energy, which combined with renewables reduces the need for energy storage
– Nuclear power can be used to produce hydrogen for hard-to-abate sectors
– Nuclear power plants increasingly have robust and resilient infrastructures able of withstanding extreme weather events.
In addition, nuclear industry is a vector of jobs creation. In France, the sector supports nearly 400,000 direct and indirect jobs according to the IAEA.
However, nuclear energy represents only 10% of global electricity generation and these proportions have been decreasing in recent years for some reasons:
– Nuclear power plant projects are complex. On average, the EPC phases of new nuclear projects take 7-10 years to complete.
– Nuclear power plant projects are capital intensive and require complex financing arrangements.
– Negative social perception of nuclear power plants in public opinion and in some governments, exacerbated by recent major disasters
Mckinsey estimates that between 2030 – 2050 approximately 50 GW/Yr from nuclear would need to be added to the power grids to meet the Net-Zero targets.
This is an ambitious target when it is known that since 2000, ~11GW is the largest amount of nuclear capacity added in a single year. Thus, some important actions need to be taken to achieve these goals:
– Define a long-term strategy: it is necessary for governments to have a clear policy for the development of nuclear energy, which involves identifying the need, capacity building, and reflection on new sources of financing.
– Implement best practices and feedback from existing projects (repeat siting, use replicable model for construction, establish standard designs) for future projects.
– Accelerate the development of next-generation reactors. These are mainly Gen-IV and SMR reactors which are under development and whose technologies will reduce capital costs and construction times while providing sustainable solutions.