Semen Dragulsky, Director of Russian Energy Efficiency Union

– One of the key values of nuclear energy is that it is cheap and ecologically safe

The IAEA has released the latest update of its annual projections for the future of nuclear power, and both its low and high projections for 2030 are higher than they were last year. The low projection foresees an installed global nuclear power capacity of about 510 gigawatts (GW(e)) in 2030, a 40% increase over the 370 GW(e) currently installed in 2009. The high projection foresees 810 GW(e), well more than a doubling. These revised projections for 2030 are 8% higher than last year?s projections.

The upward shift in the projections is greatest for the Far East, a region that includes China, Japan and the Republic of Korea. Modest downward shifts in the projections were made for North America and for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. For all other regions there is a generally modest upward shift. The one exception is a higher upward shift in the high projection for the Middle East and South Asia, which includes India and Pakistan. There the high projection for 2030 shifted upward by 15 GW(e).

All studies still project persistent energy demand growth in the medium and long term.

Meanwhile, Euronews reports that Germany, which who earlier was going to shut down its nuclear power plants, has now announced a plan to extend the service of its 17 operating reactors and to build reactors of general III.

The interest of India and China in nuclear energy is not a coincidence: for the present, it is one of the most promising sources of energy. Today, researchers have developed modern nuclear waste treatment technologies and this is one more argument in favor of nuclear energy. One of the key values of nuclear energy is that it is cheap and ecologically safe. Today, one of the key ecological problems in the world is CO2 emissions. India and China produce CO2 in huge amounts as their industries work mostly on coal. Our country could save lots of energy by building low and medium power nuclear reactors in the Far North.

The growing interest in nuclear energy worldwide is natural. And all barriers put in the way of nuclear energy are being created by those who get super profits from the production and sale of oil and gas.