Less than 18 months after the meltdown accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s (TEPCO) Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) finds that nuclear power is still doing surprisingly well worldwide.
That’s the assessment offered by IAEA’s Nuclear Safety Review for the Year 2012, a 68-page document released in July.
The report notes that China, India, the Republic of Korea, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam continue to look to nuclear energy to meet ever growing needs for clean energy. Other countries are even accelerating additions to their nuclear power fleet.
“For example, France is building its first advanced reactor, with plans for a second already being drawn up; the Russian Federation seeks to double its nuclear energy output by 2020, with several reactors around the country currently under construction; and, the United Kingdom has plans to build additional reactor units,” IAEA said.
“However, some countries, including Belgium, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, have decided to phase out and discontinue the use of nuclear power, partly as a consequence of lack of public support and in some cases—public opposition,” IAEA said in the report.
Several other countries, such as Austria, Denmark, Greece and New Zealand, remain opposed to nuclear power, the agency said.
With over 14,792 reactor-years of commercial operation in 33 countries, the operational level of nuclear power plant safety around the world remains high, the agency said. The total number of unplanned reactor shutdowns, or scrams, has shown steady improvement in recent years, “although there is room for further improvement,” IAEA said.
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