The Hindu Business Line : More countries opt for nuclear power

Chennai, July 5 At least 27 countries are building or planning to set up their first nuclear power plants as they try to address their growing energy needs with lower carbon emissions, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted on Saturday.

Debutant nations

In the list of debutant countries are Malaysia, Thailand and Bangladesh. In Thailand, for instance, electricity demand is expected to grow at over seven per cent for the next 20 years. The doubling of petroleum prices in the past year has made electricity expensive as 70 per cent of the current needs come from gas-based generating plants.

“As climate change and the rapidly expanding demand for energy become significant problems, there is a growing interest in nuclear energy, which is non-fossil fuel energy, does not emit CO{-2} in the process of combustion of energy for electricity generation, and produces low levels of CO{-2} emissions over its lifecycle as a whole,” the Ministry said ahead of the G8 summit hosted by Japan at the northern resort town of Toyako in Hokkaido.

Co-opting India, China

Mitigation of climate change is expected to be one of the important issues to be addressed at the summit of the world’s eight leading industrialised nations, which are keen to co-opt fast-growing economies such as India and China in the effort.

Back in reckoning

Nuclear power stations seem to be back in the reckoning again after a long break. Built with great enthusiasm in the 1980s when one reactor was commissioned somewhere in the world every 17 days, the industry virtually went into a standstill state after accidents in various plants –notably in the US and Russia.

Rising petroleum prices in recent months and the threats of climate change have once again turned global attention to nuclear power stations, which emit just three per cent of the carbon gases that oil-fired electricity plants do.

While only 36 new nuclear reactors are under construction, another 311 are either on order or being planned, according to the World Nuclear Association. The 439 reactors currently operational in 30 countries produce 16 per cent of the world’s electricity, according to the Association.

Uranium shortage

Nuclear power stations in India normally account for about three per cent of the electricity capacity but a shortage of uranium fuel has curtailed output to 2.2 per cent of the national grid between April and June this year.

Related Stories:
Facts and fiction on the nuclear deal
Developing climate sense
Global warming: Striking a balance
Hokkaido Toyako G8 Summit
Growth and environment protection: Is there a trade-off?
Will nuclear power really help?

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