World Energy Resources | 2016

WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | URANIUM AN D NUCLEAR
The Fukushima accident in March 2011 resulted in a developmental hiatus and a nuclear
retreat in some countries; however, with the benefit of five years of hindsight the true
proportions of that accident are becoming clearer: a barely perceptible direct impact on
public health but high economic and social costs.
Since 2011, and following a series of safety reviews, nuclear development has continued in
those countries that were hitherto committed to it. Electricity demand continues to grow
rapidly in developing countries and the disadvantages of competing forms of power
generation are increasingly being felt. Nuclear can be seen as standing at an historic
inflection point where the pessimism of earlier decades has been replaced by an
appreciation of the role that nuclear power can play in the portfolio of clean energy sources.
Certainly, the industry stands ready to make a greater contribution to meeting future
electricity demand than in the recent past. The designs of current reactors are safer and
more efficient than previous designs and there are sufficient defined uranium resources to
power the current level of capacity for over 100 years. Given the appropriate price signals,
many more resources could undoubtedly be defined. Moreover, the development of fast
neutron reactors, a technology with more than 100 reactor years of operating experience,
could allow current uranium resources to provide power for an effectively indefinite period
into the future whilst simultaneously reducing the challenges of waste management and
proliferation for future generations.
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