The world is re-embracing nuclear energy after decades of decline, driven by technological advances and the need to keep pace with growing energy demand fueled by the tech sector without compromising climate goals. The world is now on track to produce more nuclear energy than ever before in 2025, and the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts an all-out nuclear renaissance. But will the future of nuclear power be dominated by emerging technologies like modular reactors, new mega-projects like Plant Vogtle, or the revitalization of old and decommissioned nuclear fleets?
“It’s clear today that the strong comeback for nuclear energy that the IEA predicted several years ago is well underway, with nuclear set to generate a record level of electricity in 2025,”statedIEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. “In addition to this, more than 70 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity is under construction globally, one of the highest levels in the last 30 years, and more than 40 countries around the world have plans to expand nuclear’s role in their energy systems.”
Birol’s comments come on the back of a brand new report from the EIA which states that nuclear power production will break records in 2025 and beyond as “the market, technology and policy foundations are in place for a new era of growth in nuclear energy over the coming decades.”
Much of the newfound excitement about nuclear energy is centered around small modular reactors (SMRs) and advanced modular reactors (AMRs), which are manufactured in a factory setting and then installed on-site. This means that they are cheaper to produce and quicker to plan for and deploy than traditional reactors, which are behemoth projects that require miles and months or even years of regulatory maneuvering.
The United States’ atPlant Vogtleis an extreme example but a salient example of the pitfalls of building new full-size nuclear power plants. Plant Vogtle is the only new nuclear reactor that the United States has built in decades, and some see the project as an unmitigated disaster. Although the plant finally fully came online on April 29, 2024, the project was seven years late and $17 billion over budget.
Advocates of SMRs and AMRs point to horror stories like this as the reason that modular technologies are the key to the nuclear renaissance. They also say that modular reactors are less dangerous than traditional models, as they have inbuilt passive safety mechanisms. But new studies show that there may be a significant dark side to wide-scale deployment of SMRs. A recentStanford studyfound that “most small modular reactor designs will actually increase the volume of nuclear waste in need of management and disposal, by factors of 2 to 30.” This creates a major issue for nuclear waste management – a costly, million-year job.
A growing number of nuclear proponents are arguing that instead of focusing on building new nuclear plants – modular or otherwise – we should be focusing more onrevitalizing the nuclear plants we already have. There are currently 22 nuclear reactors undergoing decommissioning in the United States, but many of those reactors could still have decades of life in them.
“Many nuclear plants were originally designed to run for 40 years, but with proper maintenance and technological upgrades, their lifespan can often be extended to 60 or even 80 years,” the Global Financial Market Review recentlyreported. “This makes life extension a financially attractive alternative to constructing new plants from scratch.”
Other experts think that if investing dollars and research priorities were aimed at extending the life of old reactors instead of merely designing new ones, that lifespan could be extended even further. “Right now we have everything [required] to run plants for at least 80 years,” Luca Oriani of Westinghouse Electric Companyrecently toldthe Financial Times. “We don’t see any major challenges to extend another 20 years to go from essentially 80 to 100.” He went on to add that these plants can also ramp up their power output through better efficiency measures.
Restarting old reactorscould be a regulatory nightmare, but there is already some precedent for it. This year, the Palisades nuclear power plant in Michigan is being revived in an unprecedented move after its 2022 closure. The project is backed by nearly $2 billion in government funding – no small budget, but an absolute steal compared to Plant Vogtle. Palisades is slated to be back online by October of this year.
By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com
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