This publication describes, for Member States, energy experts, the media and the general public, the global and regional history of nuclear power between 1980 and 2005 as reflected in the data collected by the IAEA of the power reactor information system (PRIS) and the reference data series 1 and 2 (RDS-1, RDS-2) on the construction and operation of nuclear power plants. In this publication history is compared with IAEA projections during the same period, and the latest IAEA projections are presented to cover both the past and the future quarter centuries.
This open access book discusses the eroding economics of nuclear power for electricity generation as well as technical, legal, and political acceptance issues. The use of nuclear power for electricity generation is still a heavily disputed issue. Aside from technical risks, safety issues, and the unsolved problem of nuclear waste disposal, the economic performance is currently a major barrier. In recent years, the costs have skyrocketed especially in the European countries and North America. At the same time, the costs of alternatives such as photovoltaics and wind power have significantly decreased.
This report contains the first International Atomic Energy Agency projection of uranium supply and demand to 2050 and provides an understanding of how some alternative uranium supply scenarios could evolve over the period. The analysis is based on the current knowledge of uranium resources and production facilities, and takes into account the premise that they can operate with minimal environmental impact and employ the best practices in planning, operations, decommissioning and closure.
The 43rd edition of Reference Data Series No. 1 contains estimates of energy, electricity, and nuclear power trends up to the year 2050. The publication considers the prospects of new capacity additions, retirements and long term operation of existing units. The 2022 capacity and production data is taken from Nuclear Power Reactors in the World, Reference Data Series No. 2, IAEA, Vienna (2023).RDS-1 is organized into world and regional subsections, with global and regional nuclear power projections presented as low and high cases, encompassing the uncertainties inherent in projecting trends. The low case assumes a continuation of current market and technology trends leading to a modest increase in in global nuclear capacity to 458 GWe by 2050. The high case assumes a more favourable context and leads to a more than doubling of global nuclear power capacity to 890 GWe by 2050. Despite the increasing recognition of nuclear power's role in climate change mitigation and energy security improvement, the current pace of nuclear power development shows that urgent actions would be needed to maintain the existing role of nuclear power in the energy mix, involving a broad range of actors including policy makers, the nuclear industry, the financing community, and international organizations, along with active engagement with the public.
This publication presents the outcomes of an IAEA coordinated research project on assessing the national economic effects of nuclear programmes in participating Member States. It provides a short description of the extended input-output model for sustainable power generation (EMPOWER), developed by the IAEA, and presents concise summaries of its applications. It further includes the results produced by the contributing research teams and summarizes general insights drawn from the national studies. The publication illustrates the state of the art of assessing macroeconomic impacts of nuclear energy programmes. It is expected to support further applications of advanced models to improve the understanding of macroeconomic and sectoral impacts of building and operating nuclear power plants
Transforming the energy system is at the core of the dedicated sustainable development goal on energy within the new United Nations development agenda. This publication explores the possible contribution of nuclear energy to addressing the issues of sustainable development through a large selection of indicators. It reviews the characteristics of nuclear power in comparison with alternative sources of electricity supply, according to economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainability. The findings summarized in this publication will help the reader to consider, or reconsider, the contribution that can be made by the development and operation of nuclear power plants in contributing to more sustainable energy systems.
This outlook highlights climate-safe investment options until 2050, policies for transition and specific regional challenges. It also explores options to eventually cut emissions to zero.
The development and implementation of an appropriate infrastructure to support the successful introduction of nuclear power and its safe, secure, peaceful and sustainable application is an issue of central concern, especially for countries that are considering and planning their first nuclear power plant. In preparing the necessary nuclear infrastructure, there are several activities that need to be completed. These activities can be split into three progressive phases of development. This publication provides a description of the conditions expected to be achieved by the end of each phase to assist with the best use of resources. 'Milestones' refer to the conditions necessary to demonstrate that the phase has been successfully completed.
As energy demand increases in line with the expansion of the world's leading economies and the growth of developing economies, a key challenge remains of how to provide the energy levels required while protecting our environment and conserving natural resources. Nuclear energy is a complex and controversial technology but also has the potential to provide considerable benefits. This publication explores a range of issues involved in the use of nuclear energy, including safety aspects, whether its use is economically competitive, its role in meeting greenhouse gas reduction targets, how to manage the radioactive waste it generates, whether its use increase the risk of proliferation of nuclear weapons, security of resources, and its potential role in the future.
