Abstract
In 2011 there were about 436 commercial nuclear power reactors operating in the world with a total capacity of 370 GW(e). Nuclear energy supplied about 16% of the world electricity. The countries with the largest nuclear energy generating capacities were the USA, France, Japan, Russia, South Korea, UK, Canada, Ukraine, China, Spain. About 81% of the operating nuclear reactors were light water cooled and moderated reactors. About 11% were pressurized heavy water moderated reactors and about 3.4% graphite moderated and gas cooled reactors. Another about 4% light water cooled and graphite moderated reactors of the Chernobyl type were still operating in Russia. The remaining 0.6% were new prototype power reactors. Besides the use of nuclear power for electricity generation, wider application directly using the nuclear heat as process heat with temperatures of about 800\({^{\circ }}\mathrm{ C}\) (gas cooled reactors) is possible in future. In the past BN 350 situated on the shore of the Caspian Sea was already used as a dual purpose plant, supplying in addition to electricity (150 MW(e)) also fresh water (120,000 m\(^{3}\)/d) by desalination. The economic advantages of nuclear power is based on the relatively low fuel cycle costs. However, nuclear power plants have capital costs higher than those of e.g. fossil fired power plants, but a much more pronounced cost degression for larger units. Nuclear power avoids to a large extent the emission of CO\(_{2}\), SO\(_{2}\), NO\(_\mathrm{ x}\) and also particulate emissions.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
American Nuclear Society (2011) Nuclear news—a publication of the American Nuclear Society, Mar 2011. http://www.ans.org
Nuclear Energy Outlook 2008 (2008) OECD-NEA No. 6348
Uranium 2007—Resources, Production and Demand (2008) OECD-NEA-IAEA No. 6345
IAEA (2008) Power reactor information system of the International Atomic Energy Agency. http://www.allcountries.org/rankings/nuclear_share_electriticy_generation_by_country_2009.html
AREVA (2006) AREVA HTR: a process heat source to power many industrial applications. http://www.areva-np.com/common/liblocal/docs/Brochure/VHTRadd_A_2006.pdf
Kessler G (1983) Nuclear fission reactors. Springer, Vienna
Owen P, Omberg R et al (1981) Economic analysis of nuclear reactors. In: Waltar A, Reynolds A (eds) Fast breeder reactors. Pergamon Press, New York
http://www.mongabay.com/comodities/price-charts/price-of-uranium.html
Hirschberg S et al (2004) Sustainability of electricity supply technologies under German conditions. PSI report No. 04–15, PSI, Villingen
Dones R et al (2005) Externalities of energy: extension of accounting framework and policy applications. Final report on work package 6: new energy technologies. http://www.externe.info/expolwp6.pdf
Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) Our common future. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Voss A (1999) Nachhaltige Entwicklung ohne Kernenergie, Deutsches Atomforum. Inforum, Adelaide
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kessler, G. (2012). The Development of Nuclear Energy in the World. In: Sustainable and Safe Nuclear Fission Energy. Power Systems. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11990-3_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11990-3_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-11989-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-11990-3
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)