PenInfo Desk: The World Nuclear Performance Report 2024 produced by the World Nuclear Association considers the state of affairs in the global nuclear industry as at 2023. Europe, whose nuclear generation has been in decline for many years, turned into a leader in terms of new nuclear connections. Two reactors came online in 2023, one at Slovakia’s Mochovce NPP and the other in Belarus, both of Russian design. On the whole, the nuclear power industry was actually treading water by each key indicator in 2023.
Generation and operation
Nuclear reactors around the world generated 2,602 TWh of electricity last year, up 58 TWh from 2,544 TWh in 2022, but down 51 TWh from 2,653 TWh in 2021. France was the major contribution to last year’s 58 TWh recovery, having increased its electricity generation by 42 TWh and thus offsetting about half of the reduction in output that was caused by extended outages of the French reactors.
In Asia, generation also continued to grow strongly in 2023. Total generation in other regions was broadly similar to the previous year.
The total number of reactors in operation remained unchanged from 2022, standing at 437, but their installed capacity decreased by 1 GW over the year to 392 GW. Some reactors, such as in Japan and India, have an operable status but do not generate electricity. Overall, the capacity of reactors that produced electricity in 2023 was 368 GW, up 3 GW on the previous year.
Capacity factors in 2023 were broadly in line with those achieved in the previous five years. The global average capacity factor in 2023 was 81.5 % (vs. 80.4 % in 2022), remaining approximately at the same level since 2000. “There has been a steady improvement in average capacity factors in each decade since the 1970s. The high-capacity factors achieved in the 2010s have continued from 2020 onwards,” the report says. Commercial fast neutron reactors and light-water graphite reactors (the both reactor types are operated in Russia only) improved their performance. For instance, the capacity factor for LWGRs surpassed 80 % in 2023.
There is no overall age-related decline in nuclear reactor performance, according to the report. It was found that the reactors younger than 20 years of operation and those exceeding 45 years of operation have higher than average capacity factors. By contrast, the ‘medium age’ reactors demonstrated lower than average capacity factors.
Five reactors were connected to the grid in 2023, one in each of China (Fangchenggang 3), South Korea (Shin-Hanul 2), the US (Vogtle 3), Belarus (Ostrovets 2) and Slovakia (Mochovce 3). The reactors at the Mochovce and Ostrovets plants are of Russian design. Mochovce Unit 3 with a VVER 440 reactor was brought online on January 31, 2023. Reactors of this type were among the most frequently built nuclear generation facilities in Eastern Europe in the last century. Its design and performance proved so efficient that Slovakia considered it a good thing for the country to finish the construction of Mochovce 3 and 4, which was suspended back in 1990. Construction works resumed in 2015. Unit 4 is currently being prepared for first power.
Unit 2 of the Belarusian NPP was brought to first power on May 13, 2023. This unit, like the first one, operates a Generation III+ VVER 1200 reactor, and the two of them are the first units with VVER 1200 reactors built outside Russia. Electricity they produce accounted for 30 % of total power consumption in Belarus in 2023. To date, this share has reached 40 %.
According to the WNA, the total number of units under construction reached 61. Rosatom is a global leader in terms of reactor units under construction abroad.
In Hungary, Rosatom is preparing for the first concrete pouring at Paks II. A construction license for two power units with VVER 1200 reactors was issued by the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority (HAEA) in August 2022. In April 2023, the Hungarian government confirmed its intention to continue the project. In May of the same year, the European Union approved an amended contract with Rosatom. Preparatory earthworks on the site began in July 2023. First concrete for Paks II Unit 1 is expected to be poured by the end of this year.
Finally, Rosatom is also building four power units in Russia. These include two VVER 1200 reactors at the Kursk NPP, one VVER 1200 reactor in the Leningrad Region (first concrete was poured in March 2024), and a lead-cooled fast neutron reactor BREST-OD 300 in Seversk. The report specifically mentions that Russia completed the first refueling of the world’s first floating nuclear power plant, Akademik Lomonosov, in November 2023.
Besides, in June 2023, Rosatom signed an agreement with TSS Group to build several floating power units with a capacity of at least 100 MW and a service life of up to 60 years. The company plans to sell electricity from aboard the floating units in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Africa.
Political support for nuclear is growing, WNA Director General Sama Bilbao y León writes in the concluding remarks to the report. At the COP28 climate change conference in Dubai in December 2023, leaders from 25 governments signed a ministerial declaration committing to the tripling of global nuclear energy capacity to achieve net zero by 2050. A similar statement, the Net Zero Nuclear Industry Pledge, was signed by over 120 companies, Rosatom included.
Significant increase in new nuclear construction is necessary if the tripling goal is to be achieved. This level of construction depends on the nuclear industry rising above the financing, supply chain and regulatory challenges faced by new projects, particularly in the Western world,” Sama Bilbao y León noted.
The World Nuclear Association expects more governments and companies to sign the declaration to triple global nuclear energy capacity. “Additionally, we anticipate increased collaboration with other industries. Now is the time for the nuclear industry to capitalize on this momentum and deliver the full potential of nuclear energy for people and planet,” the WNA Director General concluded.
Peninfo/desk/20.10.24/04.29pm