Powering tomorrow Navigating the energy transition landscape 2024 - Flipbook - Page 21
Summary of nuclear energy
developments worldwide
Nuclear power capacity worldwide is increasing
steadily—with a long operating life, few retirements
of older plants, and a number of new projects under
development around the world. Today there are
about 440 nuclear power reactors operating in 32
countries plus Taiwan, with a combined capacity of
about 390 GWe. In 2023 nuclear provided about
10 percent of the world’s electricity. New projects
continue to advance, with 60 nuclear reactors
currently under construction. In the EU, countries
like Sweden have announced plans to build 10 new
nuclear reactors by 2045. Meanwhile, China is in the
process of constructing 21 nuclear reactors—more
than any other country by a wide margin—and
India is calling for as many as 20 new nuclear power
plants to build in the next decade. While countries
with existing nuclear power programs either have
plans to build, or are building new reactors—such as
China—improved and advanced designs of nuclear
reactors are also being developed worldwide. These
newer advanced reactors have simpler designs
which are intended to reduce capital cost and they
are more fuel e昀케cient and inherently safer. Small
modular reactors (SMRs)—which are typically up
to 300 MWe—and advanced reactors are capable of
more complex siting and power applications such
as powering remote sites, maritime operations,
military instillations, and space missions. These new
nuclear projects and plans being announced around
the world include expanding nuclear programs in
central and eastern Europe, and planning for the
deployment of SMRs in France, China, and the
UK, with Southeast Asian and African countries
strongly exploring nuclear to meet their sharply
rising energy needs.
In the U.S., political consensus and support for
nuclear in Congress has paved the way for the
greenlighting of new plant designs, including
advanced reactors, and keeping older plants
operating. In fact, the U.S. is so far leading the
charge with the number and diversity of advanced
reactor projects underway, including siting the
X-energy reactor at a Dow Chemical plant in Texas,
a TerraPower reactor at a retired coal plant in
Wyoming, a NuScale reactor planned for Idaho
(and each of these three projects have received over
US$1 billion each in U.S. government support), the
Kairos demonstration project, which has completed
its U.S. nuclear regulatory safety review, a number
of GE-Hitachi projects in Canada, the U.S., and
across Europe. China connected its 昀椀rst advanced
reactor to the grid last year, and Russia–which has
led the world in global nuclear trade–announced an
advanced reactor option in 2023. The U.S. has also
been undergoing a competition for a new plant, and
a number of European countries are in discussions
with vendors for advanced reactor projects.
Key takeaways for nuclear power
• Nuclear is critical to decarbonization and
energy security: As the world barrels towards
its decarbonization commitments with increased
focus on ensuring the lights stay on, nuclear is
well suited to thrive and grow substantially over
the coming decades. But new projects need to be
delivered in a predictable manner—on time and
on budget, moving past the growing pains that will
inevitably come with the 昀椀rst-of-a-kind projects—
in order for nuclear to realize its full potential.
• New technologies: Along with existing large
scale plants, a number of countries are looking at
deploying advanced reactors, which are intended
to be smaller, simpler, and scalable, with enhanced
safety features, and improved economics. With
their smaller size comes more diverse applications,
like powering the new space age or powering
commercial ships.
• Predicable costs and schedules: New projects
need to have predictable deployment schedules.
First-of-a-kind projects will always take longer and
cost more than the “nth”-of-a-kind, and nuclear
power’s economies come in both the immense
long-term power it is able to produce, but also
driving down construction costs and schedules
through standardization.
• Continued and expanded strong political
and public support is critical for the
nuclear energy industry: To secure long-term
investment, nuclear will need to see continued and
widespread government and public support—both
winds that have consistently and increasingly been
moving in nuclear’s favor.
• Industrial decarbonization: Decarbonization
of the industrial sector, one of the biggest
contributors of greenhouse gas emissions, is a
di昀케cult task, but nuclear is uniquely suited for
this sector because of its small footprint, energy
density, high levels of reliability, and ability to
provide process heat. These attributes have led
to Dow Chemical selecting the X-energy plant to
provide carbon free power and process heat to a
chemical plant in Texas, and we expect to see an
increase in announcements like this globally.
Hogan Lovells | Powering tomorrow: Navigating the energy transition landscape
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