Where is the nuclear renaissance?

Energiaklub organized a conference Nuclear Energy: What are the Chances for the 21st Century? The aim of the event was to reflect on decisive facts which are often blurred by the nuclear industry.

 
Steve Thomas, professor of the University of Greenwich stated that the nuclear industry is in decline, and this trend cannot be broken by the own resources of the industry. While more than a dozen nuclear power plants (NPP) are under construction in Asia, only three are in Europe and in North America.

 

Steve Thomas Professor of the University of Greenwich

The reason for this is the need for state subsidies for the building of such facilities. Such subsidies are not easily accesible on liberalized markets, and some times, even the existing amounts are insufficient. For instance, in the United States, despite a 15 billion USD package to facilitate the construction new NPPs, not a single order has been realized.

 

Alinda Veiszer moderator of the conference

In Europe, the Olkiluoto NPP constructed in Finland was to demonstrate the competitiveness of nuclear energy on a liberalized market. However the project failed in the second year. The costs are already 50 per cent above the preliminary budget, and the expected construction timespan rose from 4 to 6 years. During the construction, several security problems occured, which reflects the inexperience of the industry.
 
András Perger, program manager of Energiaklub stressed that a new nuclear power plant with a capacity similar to Paks is expected to be 2000 billion HUF (app. 8 billion EUR), and its construction would increase electricity prices by 30 per cent.

András Perger nuclear safety program manager of Energiaklub

In his presentation, Péter Kardos climate expert of Energiaklub, indicated, that nuclear energy cannot be the solution in tackling climate change. Beside lots of problems related to nuclear energy, there is practically not enough time to contribute to emission reduction, and it would take away sources from more economically viable solutions.

 

Péter Kardos, climate expert of Energiaklub

Wolfgang Kromp Physics and Material Science professor of the University of Vienna outlined several security risks related to lifetime extension of nuclear power plants in his presentation, mentioning aging of the equipment, the reactor vessels, structural material as the most important problems. He added, that nuclear waste problem is still unsolved.

 

Wolfgang Kromp Professor of the University of Vienna

During the conference, the Nuclear energy: What are the Chances of the 21st century? booklet was introduced which contains further information under the following link (in Hungarian).