29 Jun (NucNet): Nuclear power can play an important role in reducing carbon emissions, but significant challenges remain, including an aging fleet, public concerns, and a lack of clear market and policy signals for future investments, International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol told the World Nuclear Exhibition in Paris yesterday. Dr Birol said nuclear reactors generate one-third of low-carbon power globally, but a lack of investment means that a “nuclear renaissance” is failing to materialise. The share of nuclear power in the electricity mix is today 11 percent and this will rise to 12 percent under current policies. It must reach 18 percent by 2040 to meet COP21 climate targets, yet current prices “do not provide the necessary signals to nuclear industry investors”. Dr Birol said additions to nuclear capacity in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries over the coming 25 years will barely outpace retirements, and there will be a net decrease in capacity in Europe. Rather it is India, South Korea, and Russia that are seen to account for 40 percent of the net increase in global nuclear capacity to 2040.
