From the UK Nuclear Free Local Authorities:
The Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) welcomes the 2020 edition of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report. This independent report is undertaken by a series of international experts from Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Lebanon/U.S. and the U.K, as well as from top think tanks like Chatham House in London and prestigious universities like Harvard in the United States, Meiji in Tokyo, Japan and the Technical University in Berlin, Germany. (1)
Amongst its core conclusions are:
• The world’s operating nuclear fleet is now at a 30 year low.
• The number of operating nuclear reactors in the world has dropped by nine over the past year to 408 as of mid-2020. That is below the level already reached in 1988, and 30 units away from the historic peak of 438 in 2002.
• Nuclear power is the most expensive energy source except for gas peaking plants.
• For the first time, in 2019 renewable energy sources out-performed nuclear power in terms of global generation.
The report also consider the impact that Covid-19 is having on the nuclear industry. It noted:
• The U.S. nuclear regulator granted site operators permission to impose extremely long work hours, with some working 16 hours a day and 86 hours a week.
• In Russia and Sweden control-room staff were isolated in on site housing.
• In France, workers walked off at least three reactor sites, considering their health and safety were not appropriately protected.
• Force-on-force exercises in the U.S. were suspended, leading to a degraded readiness level.
• In many cases, refuelling and maintenance outages have been altered to eliminate “noncritical work” or were deferred entirely to the end of the year or even into 2021.
• Numerous fuel-chain and research facilities were shut down.
NFLA notes that the coordinator of the report, Mycle Schneider, commented:
“Nuclear energy has become irrelevant in the electricity generating technology market. At the same time, Covid-19 puts additional stress on the sector.” READ MORE