Why nuclear power will never supply the world's energy needs

As Abbott notes in his study, global power consumption today is about 15 terawatts (TW). Currently, the global nuclear power supply capacity is only 375 gigawatts (GW). In order to examine the large-scale limits of nuclear power, Abbott estimates that to supply 15 TW with nuclear only, we would need about 15,000 nuclear reactors. In his analysis, Abbott explores the consequences of building, operating, and decommissioning 15,000 reactors on the Earth, looking at factors such as the amount of land required, radioactive waste, accident rate, risk of proliferation into weapons, uranium abundance and extraction, and the exotic metals used to build the reactors themselves.

“A nuclear power station is resource-hungry and, apart from the fuel, uses many rare metals in its construction,” Abbott told PhysOrg.com. “The dream of a utopia where the world is powered off fission or fusion reactors is simply unattainable. Even a supply of as little as 1 TW stretches resources considerably.”

In 2009e, nuclear power plants generated 2,558 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity, about 2 percent
less than the previous year. The industry’s lobby organization the World Nuclear Association
headlined “another drop in nuclear generation”—the fourth year in a row. The role of nuclear power
is declining steadily and now accounts for about 13 percent of the world’s electricity generation and
5.5 percent of the commercial primary energy.

e The 2010 figure is not yet available.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power

Nuclear power provides about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity,<1>

1. ^ a b c World Nuclear Association. Another drop in nuclear generation World Nuclear News, 05 May 2010.

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=27665&terms=another+drop+

Another drop in nuclear generation
05 May 2010
Annual generation of nuclear power has continued on a slight downward trend, decreasing 1.8% last year to 2558 TWh, according to the latest estimates.

With some data yet to come in, estimates by the International Atomic Energy Agency see nuclear power last year meeting 13-14% of the world's electricity demand, which continues to increase rapidly in the developing world.



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