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The outlook of the Nuclear Energy

Release time:

2024-12-11

Outline: The International Atomic Energy Agency has raised its global growth forecast for nuclear power for the third year in a row, with installed nuclear capacity expected to be a quarter higher by 2050 than projected in 2020. This increase underscores the importance of nuclear energy as a clean and reliable source of energy, which more and more countries are turning to to meet the challenges of energy security, climate change and economic development. The report also notes that nuclear energy plays a key role in ensuring energy security and preventing future supply and price volatility.

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The outlook of the development of the Nuclear Energy

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released its annual outlook for nuclear power in the coming decades, revising up its global growth projections for a third straight year.

In both its high and low case scenarios, the IAEA now sees a quarter more nuclear energy capacity installed by 2050 than it did as recently as 2020, underscoring how a growing number of countries are looking to this clean and reliable energy source to address the challenges of energy security, climate change and economic development.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi announced the new projections, contained in the annual report “Energy, Electricity and Nuclear Power Estimates for the Period up to 2050 ”, during the opening of the IAEA’s 2nd International Conference on Climate Change and the Role of Nuclear Power 2023: Atoms4NetZero in Vienna.

“Climate change is a big driver, but so is security of energy supply,” Director General Grossi said in describing the reasons for the improved outlook. “Many countries are extending the lifetime of their existing reactors, considering or launching construction of advanced reactor designs and looking into small modular reactors (SMRs), including for applications beyond the production of electricity.”

In the high case scenario of the new outlook, nuclear installed capacity is seen more than doubling by 2050 to 890 gigawatts electric (GW(e)) compared with today’s 369 GW(e). In the low case, capacity increases to 458 GW(e). From last year’s outlook, the high and low cases have risen by 2% and 14%, respectively.

In 2021, the IAEA revised up its projections for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan. Since the 2020 outlook, the high case projections to 2050 have now increased by 178 GW(e), a 24% increase. The report’s low case projections have seen even higher growth of about 26%.

Amid a rapidly transforming global energy landscape, intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical situation, and military conflict, the significant increase in the capacity forecast underlines how more and more countries view nuclear energy as a resilient, reliable and low carbon energy source. The report also reflects nuclear power's importance in ensuring energy security to prevent future fluctuations in availability and prices.

The news comes from: IAEA Annual Projections Rise Again as Countries Turn to Nuclear for Energy Security and Climate Action | IAEA