Publication Laka-library:
Nuclear technology review. 2009 (2009)
| Author | IAEA |
| Date | 2009 |
| Classification | 6.01.2.10/43 (TECHNICAL - GENERAL INFORMATION) |
| Front | 
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From the publication:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The year 2008 was paradoxical for nuclear power. Projections of future growth were revised upwards, but no new reactors were connected to the grid. It was the first year since 1955 without at least one new reactor coming on-line. There were, however, ten construction starts, the most since 1985. At least until the global financial crisis, cost estimates reported for new nuclear reactors were often higher than those in previous years, particularly in regions with less recent experience in new construction. However, growth targets for nuclear power were raised in the Russian Federation, and similar considerations were under review in China. India negotiated a safeguards agreement with the Agency in August, and the Nuclear Suppliers Group subsequently exempted India from previous restrictions on nuclear trade, which should allow India to accelerate its planned expansion of nuclear power. In the USA, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) received combined licence (COL) applications for 26 new reactors. The US Department of Energy (USDOE) received 19 'Part I applications' for Federal loan guarantees to build 21 new reactors.Nonetheless, current expansion, as well as near term and long term growth prospects, remain centred in Asia. Of the ten construction starts in 2008, eight were in Asia. Twenty-eight of the 44 reactors under construction at the end of the year were in Asia, as were 28 of the last 39 new reactors to have been connected to the grid. Armenia joined the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan as members of the International Uranium Enrichment Centre in Angarsk, Siberia. The Ukrainian Government announced that Ukraine would also join. AREVA and USEC applied to the USDOE for loan guarantees for the construction of AREVA's proposed Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility and USEC's American Centrifuge Plant. Construction of an underground repository for low and medium level radioactive waste began at the former Konrad iron mine in Germany. The USDOE submitted a formal application to build and operate the long planned high level waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The ITER International Fusion Energy Organization formally applied for a construction permit to build the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), an experimental fusion reactor, in Cadarache, France. Water resource management, food security, human health, environmental protection and the use of radioisotopes and radiation are all areas where nuclear and isotopic techniques are making valuable contributions to socioeconomic development around the world.
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