Nuclear power growth/decline
2011 figures:
Six grid connections added 4014 MWe of capacity.
Capacity uprates added in excess of 440 MWe of nuclear generation capacity
11,272 MWe of nuclear capacity were lost through the permanent closures of nuclear reactors.
Total decline in global nuclear power generating capacity in 2011: 11272-4014-440=6818 MW
Nuclear numbers down despite connections
03 January 2012
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-Nuclear_numbers_down_despite_connec...
Six new nuclear power reactors were connected to the world's electricity grids in 2011, adding over 4000 MWe of generation capacity. Thirteen units were closed permanently, all but one as a direct result of the accident at Fukushima Daiichi.
The six grid connections included two units in China (Lingao II unit 2 and Qinshan II unit 4), plus Kaiga 4 in India, Bushehr in Iran and Kalinin 4 in Russia. Together, the new units added 4014 MWe of capacity. Additionally, the Chinese Experimental Fast Reactor (CEFR) was also connected to the grid for the first time in July, and was expected to ramp up to its full 20 MWe power before the end of 2011.
Capacity uprates at plants in the Czech Republic, Finland, Mexico, Spain and the USA added in excess of 440 MWe to the world's total nuclear generation capacity, and by 31 December the world had recorded 14,713 reactor-years of nuclear power generation.
In all some 11,272 MWe of nuclear capacity were lost through the permanent closures of nuclear reactors. Although thirteen reactors shut down in 2011 only one of those had reached the end of its natural life: the UK's 217 MWe Oldbury 2 Magnox unit, which was connected to the grid in 1968 and finally powered down at the end of June 2011. Oldbury 1 remains in operation but is now scheduled for closure in February 2012, 45 years after its first criticality.
The physical damage caused by the tsunami created by the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011 added units 1-4 at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to the list of reactors removed permanently from the world's grids, with the loss of 2719 MWe. The political response to the Japanese experience prompted Germany to enforce the permanent closure of eight of its nuclear reactors: Biblis A and B, Neckarwestheim 1, Brunsbüttel, Isar 1, Unterweser, Phillipsburg 1 and Krümmel, wiping 8336 MWe from Germany's generation capacity.
Only two reactors formally began construction in 2011: Pakistan's Chashma 3, a 340 MWe (gross) pressurised water reactor in May, and India's Rajasthan 7, a 700 MWe (gross) pressurised heavy water reactor in July. Construction had been scheduled to begin on at least three new Chinese units during the year, but the country, which has more than 25 reactors currently under construction, temporarily suspended issuing approvals for the start of construction of new nuclear plants after the Fukushima accident.
Nuclear construction builds up
04 January 2011
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN_Build_up_of_nuclear_construction_04...
No power reactors were closed last year but some 13 construction projects were started, promising more than one new reactor per month around 2015.
New capacity entering commercial operation in 2010 amounted to 2839 MWe net (Russia's Rostov 2, India's Rajasthan 6 and China's Ling Ao 3 and Qinshan II-3), while South Korea's Shin Kori 1 was grid connected and should soon provide another 1000 MWe net on a commercial basis. The Phenix reactor in France was officially closed in February 2010, but this had ceased power generation in 2009 and is counted among that year's figures.
On 31 December 2010, China National Nuclear Corporation held an official ceremony to mark the start of work on Fuqing 3, in Fujian province. The 1080 MWe CPR-1000 unit should begin operation in the middle of 2015. It was the eighth construction start in China last year as the country continued to grow as a major player in nuclear energy.
Around the world, last year's construction starts added up to 15,218 MWe gross, according to World Nuclear Association research. Eight of these were in China (Fuqing 3, Ningde 3, Taishan 2, Changjiang 1, Haiyang 2, Fangchenggang 1, Yangjiang 3 and Changjiang 2), but work also started in Russia (Leningrad II-2 and Rostov 4), in India (Kakrapar 3 and 4) as well as in Brazil (Angra 3). Separately, the stalled construction of Japan's 1383 MWe Ohma unit got back underway after re-engineering work for enhanced earthquake protection.
These 13 new construction projects continue the global upward trend in nuclear power. In 2009 the figure for new construction starts was 11, while 2008 and 2007 each saw ten. Assuming about five years for construction it can be expected that reactors will be coming online around 2012 at double today's rate of five per year, with this to rise to one per month around 2015. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency's PRIS database, the last time ten or more new reactors started in a single year was 1990.