Nuclear in the world: between revival and decline; Le nucleaire dans le monde: entre renaissance et declin

The author first comments the fact that nuclear electricity production has been decreasing during the last decade, and notably more strongly since the Fukushima accident. In the same time electricity production has kept on increasing. On another hand, the number of nuclear reactors under construction started to increase during the past years, but some projects have been stopped after the Fukushima accident. A more detailed analysis shows that the decrease of nuclear energy has started in the USA in 1975 for different reasons: loss of competitiveness of nuclear and technological improvements of coal and gas power stations. In fact, accidents (Three Mile Island and Chernobyl) accelerated this decrease. Recent evolutions can be explained by a better competitiveness, but also by the emergence of new markets (mainly China, Russia, India, and Korea, but also and to a lesser extent some other countries). Many countries indeed consider the development of nuclear energy as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to avoid the predicted future tensions on the hydrocarbon markets, and to gain energy independence. The author then discusses the negative influence of the cost of nuclear reactors on the development of this energy with respect to the economic competitiveness of gas, coal or renewable energies. He comments the evolution of the landscape of actors (many mergers occurred during the 1985-2005 period) and of competition in terms of reactor type and safety requirements. Due to this importance of costs, smaller reactors are becoming more interesting and are now being proposed by manufacturers.