NUCLEAR SA’s nuclear option and global trends Worldwide use of nuclear energy is expected to grow at about 2.5% a year over the coming decades, with the developing world to contribute much of this – thus South Africa’s plans for nuclear power generation is in line with global trends. T he USA Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) International Energy Outlook 2013 projects that world energy consumption will grow by 56% between 2010 and 2040. Much of the growth in energy consumption will occur in countries outside the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), with energy use in non-OECD countries expected to increase by 90% compared with 17% in OECD countries. Of the established non- renewable energy forms, use of nuclear energy is anticipated to grow the fastest over this period, at about 2.5% a year. Announcements by a variety of countries around the world following the Fukushima reactor failure in Japan bring credence to this prediction. Following the Fukushima incident, South Korea, which has an installed nuclear capacity of some 19 GW, affirmed plans to continue the expansion of its nuclear industry and to conduct safety checks. India, which has an installed capacity of some 5.0 GW of nuclear power facilities, plans to boost its nuclear power generation capacity to 63 GW by 2032, while also reviewing safety. China, with some 11 GW of nuclear capacity, temporarily suspended approval of nuclear reactors but affirmed its 12 th five year plan target to start construction of an additional 40 GW of nuclear capacity in 2011 to 2015. The USA, which has an installed nuclear generation capacity of 106 GW, continues to support nuclear power while stressing safety as of paramount concern. As a block the European Union, whose 27 member states host 127 GW of nuclear generation capacity, announced plans to stress test all 147 plants across its jurisdiction. Europe’s biggest nuclear power generator, France, which has an installed capacity of 66 GW, continues to support the sector, while carrying out the EU’s stress tests. The UK, which has an installed nuclear power generation capacity of some 11 GW, affirmed plans to build eight new reactors by 2025. The Czech Republic, which has an installed nuclear generation capacity of some 4.0 GW, affirmed plans to build two new units at its Temelin nuclear power station. Turkey confirmed no change to plans to commission the first of four planned reactors of 1.2 GW by 2018. Poland affirmed plans to commission its first nuclear power reactor by 2020. Russia, which has an installed capacity of 24 GW, announced a plan to double that country’s nuclear capacity by 2020; it is undertaking a comprehensive safety review. South Africa, which has 1.8 GW of nuclear generation capacity, affirmed plans to build an additional 9.6 GW of nuclear capacity by 2030. The Browns Ferry nuclear power plant in the USA. ESI AFRICA ISSUE 4 2013 11