Has the Nuclear Market suffered after Fukushima?

On 9th - 10th May 2017 Mangiarotti hosted the conference “Nuclear Energy: basic elements and critical aspects” held by Professor Ricotti (Polytechnic University of Milan) and the following core message shall be captured:the Fukushima disaster did not stop the nuclear business, indeed the nuclear market has moved and is growing steadily in Russia and in Asia.

Surely after the Fukushima event some countries, such as Germany and Switzerland, have decided to phase out their Nuclear Power Plants, other countries like the USA, United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Finland have confirmed their nuclear plans, but with a possible slow down. Also Japan have already restarted 5 reactors and is planning the re-start of several others.

To the contrary India, Russia, China and South Corea have continued to build-up Nuclear Power Plants all over the world, satisfying the needs of many countries showing an increasing demand of energy, providing a clean and competitive energy source.

In detail, more than 100 new nuclear reactors are planned to be built in Asia by 2025.

Why clean and competitive? Nuclear energy is CO2 free during its entire life cycle, and is the outcome of the “megafactor” since 5 grams of uranium produce the same energy of 400 kg of coal and 360 m3 of gas. In addiction, even if the investment to build a Nuclear Power Plant is significant, and surely difficult to manage from a cost and timing perspective, the costs of fuel and maintenance are much lower than those for Coal and Oil & Gas Plant.

Therefore, notwithstanding the Fukushima disaster, Nuclear Market continues to grow and is expanding even in "newcomer countries" like Poland, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Ghana, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia.