The photo is sourced from media-amazon.com
Half of this growth – $17 bln out of $34 bln – will come from OECD countries, including Turkey, which is currently building four power units at the Akkuyu NPP with a total capacity of 4.8 gigawatts (GW), with the first unit coming on stream as early as next year. In addition to Turkey, there are plans to launch new generating capacities in the United States, where the fourth power unit of the Vogtle NPP (with a capacity of 1,250 MW) is scheduled to be brought into operation this year, and in the United Kingdom, where two new power units with a total capacity of 3,740 MW are being built at the Hinkley Point NPP. This year has seen another OECD country, Finland, put into commercial operation the third power unit of the Olkiluoto NPP (with a capacity of 1,720 MW), which is the largest of the nuclear reactors operating in Europe. The third power unit will generate 14 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity per year, thereby allowing Finland to reduce its dependence on electricity imports, which amounted to 12.6 TWh in 2022.
China remains an important driver in the development of the industry, where investments into nuclear energy development are set to increase by 26% by the end of 2023 (to $15 bln against $12 bln in 2022 and $10 bln in 2015). According to the IAEA, China has 55 power units installed with a total capacity of 56.9 GW, with another 21 power units with a capacity of 23.6 GW under construction. Among the ongoing projects is the LingLong-1 small nuclear power plant (SNPP), where concrete was poured last year. The 125 MW SNPP will be located in southern China’s Hainan Province and will be capable of generating 1 bln kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year, enough to power 526,000 households.
Apart from China, the construction of new SNPPs will also be carried out in Russia, where Rosatom plans to bring into operation a 60 MW reactor in the Ust-Yansky District of Yakutia by 2028; in the USA, where six small modular reactors with a total capacity of 300 MW are set to be installed at a site of Idaho National Laboratory; and in the UK, where Rolls-Royce has created a subsidiary, Rolls-Royce SMR, to develop and build small NPPs.
The points of growth for the industry are also expected to be located in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where the fourth power unit of the Barakah NPP is to be brought on stream this year, and in Japan, where the Cabinet issued permission last February for the construction of next-generation reactors to replace existing capacities.
