The photo is sourced from TTstudio
Commissioning of new nuclear power units provided for the key contribution into this growth. For example, in Europe this is the third power unit at Olkiluoto NPP for 1.6 GW of net capacity, the biggest of the nuclear reactors operating in Europe, which commenced regular generation in April 2023. On the other hand, in 2023 China started commercial operation of the third power unit at Fangchenggang NPP (1.0 GW), and the USA launched the third power unit at Vogtle NPP (1.1 GW). At the same time, Japan re-launched the first and the second power units at Takahama NPP with the total capacity of 1.6 GW (they stopped generation shortly after the accident at Fukushima NPP.
The commissioning of the new infrastructure compensated for the consequences of closing the old reactors including one-unit Emsland NPP, the second power unit at Nekarwestheim NPP and the second power unit at Izar NPP in Germany, as well as the second power unit Tihange NPP in Belgium. Finishing the turnarounds at several French reactors also played its role: according to EDF, by the end of 2023 anticorrosion activities were completed at 15 out of 16 power units, on which generation was suspended. It resulted in the nuclear generation output growth in France by 14% in the end of the preceding year, i.e., by 41 TW-h (up to 336 TW-h).
Despite this growth last year, the global share of nuclear generation remains below the level of 2000 (9.1% vs 16.6%). This is the effect of the consequences of the Fukushima-1 catastrophe, due to which the share of nuclear generation in Japan is still below the level of 2010 (7.6% vs 25.3%), as well as the effect of the so-called “Chernobyl pause”, i.e., significant suspension of commissioning new reactors in the developed countries. Thus, the fourth power unit at Vogtle NPP connected to the grid in March 2024 was only the third nuclear power unit built in the USA after 2000. Another factor is the outstripping growth of gas-fired power plants and RES-based generation: the global nuclear generation output grew by 145 TW-h between 2000 and 2023, while as at gas-fired power plants it grew by 3,889 TW-h, and at wind-powered and solar-powered plants – by 2,273 TW-h and 1,630 TW-h respectively.
However, this trend may demonstrate a U-turn in the nearest years – both due to commissioning new reactors in the developing countries, and due to the change of regulation in OECD countries. According to IAEA, by May 2024 across the globe in addition to 416 operating reactors with total net capacity of 374.6 GW 59 power units of total 61.6 GW capacity were under construction including 40 reactors of total 40.6 GW capacity in China, India, Turkey and Egypt. In 2022, nuclear generation was included into the EU taxonomy ranking the energy sectors depending on their contribution into sustainable development; in the UK in 2024, for the first time in 10 years, the project of two new nuclear reactors was approved (Sizewell with a total capacity of 3.2 GW); and the Japanese Cabinet in one of its recent policy papers called for building the new-generation reactors to substitute for the retired capacity.
