"BEIJING, April 19, 2009 (AFP) - Growing energy demands and concerns about oil supplies and greenhouse gas emissions means nuclear power is making a comeback, top international specialists declared here Sunday.
“Nuclear is really back on the agenda. There is a need for more energy,” said Thierry Dujardin, a deputy director of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s nuclear energy arm.
However, speaking ahead of a conference on nuclear power in the Chinese capital, specialists said the global financial crisis would slow the nuclear comeback temporarily as funding for new projects dries up.
“Definitely the economic crisis will affect the nuclear industry,” said Yury Sokolov, deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s nuclear division.
The three-day conference organised by the IAEA and opening Monday will gather energy ministers and other representatives from more than 60 countries to discuss nuclear power’s future.
According to the IAEA, 436 nuclear power reactors are in operation in 30 countries, providing about 14 percent of global electricity supplies, but many more countries are also looking at the nuclear option.
“The number of countries considering nuclear power has increased significantly since 2005,” Sokolov said.
He said last year construction started on 10 new reactors worldwide, the highest number since the 1986 nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.
A number of developed countries that had abandoned nuclear power on safety grounds—highlighted by Chernobyl—were showing renewed interest, he added.
Energy ministers at the conference will present their countries’ stance on nuclear power. These include hosts China, which plans to ramp up nuclear energy output to meet spiralling demand as the country rapidly develops.
China, which has 11 nuclear reactors in operation, has another 24 in various stages of construction, Dong Baotong, a top official with the China Atomic Energy Administration, told reporters at Sunday’s briefing.
State press said in March that China plans to increase nuclear power capacity to 75,000 megawatts, up from the 40,000 by the year 2020 that it had called for in a plan put forward in 2007. China currently has capacity of 9,100 megawatts, a top nuclear energy official said last month."
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