Greener Energy Systems

6 Nuclear energy plans

By the end of 2010 there was definitely a nuclear renaissance gathering momentum. Several countries, including some with no nuclear plants in operation, had plans to build; and some, notably the United States, were inspecting existing units and granting life extensions to 60 years, which for most would mean a final shutdown after 2030. The industry could have seen some first orders which would have seen new plants based on new reactor designs coming into service in about 2017-18.

But on the afternoon of 11 March 2011 the most powerful earthquake ever recorded, 8.9 Richter, struck Japan about 130 km off the port of Sendai in northern Honshu. Eleven nuclear power reactors along the northeast coast automatically tripped ...