In 2016, nuclear power saw the highest capacity additions since 1990 (10 GW gross). New construction continued to fluctuate, with 3.2 GW commencing in 2016, down from 8.8 GW during the previous year, and averaging 8.5 GW over the past ten years. Capacity additions of 20 GW per year are needed to meet the 2DS targets.

Source: Nuclear power – IEA

This page follows up on the Clean Energy Progress assessed by the IEA that I reported in the previous post in the News section, and naturally it focuses on nuclear energy.

The future role of this technology is a very interesting and topical issue. On the one hand, especially in Western countries, nuclear power has been facing huge issues, being pressed by the ageing of existing reactors and social opposition to new constructions; on the other hand, this is a low-carbon technology that is expected to play a very important role in future mitigation pathways and in any case already in these years it is being characterized by a significant expansion, especially in non-Western countries.

I will analyze the prospects of nuclear energy next year in the context of the Work Package 2 of my project, therefore I will have the chance of investigating more in depth on the topics that I mentioned above and those that are discussed in the reported link.