The Nuclear Power Industry

Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear-generated electricity. In 2007, the IAEA reported there were 439 nuclear power reactors in operation in the world, operating in 31 countries.

A Brief History of the Nuclear Power Industry

The 60-year history of commercial nuclear power has been punctuated by dramatic policy changes. The ﬁrst 20 years, marked by limited public participation, tight government control, and promises of clean, abundant energy, were followed by a period of intense social and political conﬂict over the technology's environmental and safety implications. Nuclear policy in the United States and most European nations shifted from all-out support to a more ambivalent posture, which led to a dramatic slowdown in the construction of new plants.

Scientists in the former Soviet Union and in the West who developed nuclear weapons in World War II and in the early days of the Cold War realized that the tremendous energy produced by nuclear ﬁssion could be tapped either for direct use or for generating electricity. It was also clear that nuclear ﬁssion energy would allow the development of compact, long-lasting power sources that could have various applications, including powering ships, especially submarines. From their roots in naval nuclear power programs, light water reactors have become an important source of electric power in many countries.

In the late 1960s, the costs of producing electricity from coal and nuclear plants were comparable; nuclear plants were more expensive to build but had lower fuel and operating costs. By the early 1970s, utilities were ordering roughly equal amounts of coal and nuclear capacity. Within a few years, though, the bottom fell out of the market, sparing no sector of the industry. Signiﬁcantly, nuclear power began its demise well before the accident at Three Mile Island in March 1979. Orders for new nuclear plants actually began to decline in 1974, and no orders would be placed after 1978. Furthermore, between 1974 and 1984, utilities canceled plans for over 100 reactors, many of which were already under construction. Some of the abandoned reactors were more than 50% complete.

Light water reactors built over the past 30 years continue to generate electricity, and new reactor Nuclear power plant development plans have mostly been put on hold for further debate, however, following major nuclear accidents at power plants such as Chernobyl, Russia, in 1986 and the radiation leaks that occurred at Fukushima in Japan after the tsunami in 2011.

The generation of nuclear energy begins with uranium mining and milling. These activities are at the ‘‘front end’’ of the nuclear fuel cycle. The cycle continues through conversion and enrichment and fuel fabrication for light water reactors (natural uranium is fuel for heavy water reactors), with each of these operations having associated costs. The ‘‘back end’’ of the cycle includes spent nuclear fuel (SNF) management, reprocessing, and high-level radioactive waste disposal.

Nuclear Reactor Fuel

Successful nuclear fuel must meet the requirements set forth by the nuclear reactor design team. These requirements include considerations of safety, economy, and ease of reprocessing or disposal.

Nuclear fuel development has progressed remarkably over the past 50 years. The fuel residence times in the reactors have increased by more than a factor of 20 and the reliability has increased by several orders of magnitude. Fuel is a small cost of generating power from a nuclear reactor as opposed to fuel costs from other fossil fuel energy technologies. Nuclear fuel design and fabrication techniques will continue to evolve, with their evolution driven by economics and new uses for nuclear energy.

Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing

Nuclear fuel reprocessing is the separation of irradiated nuclear fuel into potentially useful product materials and waste. The separation is accomplished by a combination of mechanical, chemical, and physical processes. Conservation of uranium resources and improved management of radioactive waste are the two primary motivations for reprocessing. In principle, almost all of the constituents of irradiated nuclear fuel can be recycled for some further use. In practice, only the recycling of plutonium and uranium have been of commercial interest.

Nuclear Power around the World

There are now 442 nuclear plants in operation worldwide, with an additional 35 under construction. Nuclear power provides about 17% of the world’s electricity. Thirty nations now have nuclear reactors, with the vast majority located in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations, where nuclear power accounts for almost 24% of all electricity. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, the top 10 nuclear-generating nations are, in order, the United States, France, Japan, Germany, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom, Canada, Ukraine, and Sweden. Nuclear power provides more than 75% of total electricity production in Lithuania and France, more than 50% in Belgium and Slovakia, more than 40% in Ukraine, Sweden, and Bulgaria, and about 30% in 10 other nations. The United States, with 104 operating reactors, has the most; France has 59 and Japan has 54. Japan also has plans to build up to 10 additional plants in the next few years.