Global Nuclear Concerns: Safety, Power, Proliferation

VIENNA, Austria, August 10, 2004 (ENS) - Nuclear power supplied 16 percent of global electricity generation in 2003, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency's annual report issued on Monday. At the end of the year there were 439 nuclear power plants in operation around the world, the United Nations nuclear agency reports.

The safety of nuclear power plants and related facilities showed "continued improvement overall around the world in 2003," the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said, and the number of significant events last year was "negligible."

Tasked with ensuring that countries conform to international nuclear agreements, the IAEA reported that "the nuclear non-proliferation regime is under stress on multiple fronts and requires urgent steps to strengthen it."

The situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) continued to be "a serious cause for concern," the agency said, because inspectors could not conduct verification or provide any assurance that nuclear material was not used for weapons.

In Iraq, IAEA inspectors were in the country from November 2002 to March 2003, and carried out 237 inspections at 148 locations, including 27 new locations. "No evidence was found" of the revival of nuclear activities prohibited by the UN Security Council, the IAEA states.

Ambassador Ali Salehi of Iran (left) and IAEA Director General Dr. Mohammed ElBaradei signed an Additional Protocol to Iran's Nonproliferation Treaty safeguards agreement, granting IAEA inspectors greater authority in verifying the country's nuclear program. Vienna, December 18, 2003. (Photo by Dean Calma courtesy IAEA)

On December 19, 2003, Libya announced its decision to eliminate all materials, equipment and programs leading to the production of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons. Libya informed the agency that it had been engaged in nuclear development activities that should have been reported, but were not. IAEA inspectors have been working in Libya to verify the previously undeclared nuclear material, equipment, facilities and activities.

After the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, the IAEA began a review of its programs aimed at preventing acts of nuclear and radiological terrorism, and a plan of activities to protect against such acts was adopted. A new type of service, the International Nuclear Security Advisory Service, was developed that identifies measures for additional or improved security for nuclear activities.

IAEA member governments have received assistance in evaluating their national physical protection systems, through International Physical Protection Advisory Service mission, follow-up visits, training courses, workshops and seminars, as well as border evaluation missions for customs personnel.

New courses, including one on combating both nuclear terrorism and incidents involving illicit trafficking in nuclear material, were organized. The membership of the Illicit Trafficking Database continued to increase in 2003, the agency said.

Nuclear Power Generation

In 2003, two new nuclear power plants were connected to the grid, in China and in South Korea, and Canada restarted two units that had been shut down. Construction began on one new power plant, in India. Four units in the United Kingdom were retired, as was one each in Germany and Japan.

Asia continues to be the center for nuclear expansion and growth, with 20 of the 31 reactors under construction located in this region. In fact, the IAEA said, 19 of the last 28 reactors to be connected to the grid are in the Far East and South Asia.

Grundremmingen nuclear power plant with high voltage power lines, Germany (Photo by Petr Pavlicek courtesy IAEA)

During 2003, the Russian Federation continued its program to extend licenses at 11 nuclear power plants. The Russian nuclear regulatory body, Gosatomnadzor, issued a five year extension for the Kola-1 plant.

Bulgarian regulators issued a new 10 year license for Kozloduy-4, the first long term license in Bulgaria, and later issued a similar eight year extension for Kozloduy-3. Romania, where license extensions are required every two years, approved an extension for the Cernavoda plant to 2005.

In the United States, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved nine license extensions of 20 years each, for a total licensed life of 60 years for each nuclear power plant, bringing the total number of approved license extensions to 19. It also approved the uprating of eight units, which allows an increase in the maximum amount of power they can generate. Three companies applied for the NRC’s new early site permits, which can be reserved for future use.

In Canada, near term expansion has involved the restarting of some of the nuclear units that have been shut in recent years. The first two restarts took place in 2003. Meanwhile, licenses have been extended for four units to 2005, and for eight units until 2008.

The management and disposal of spent fuel and radioactive waste is still "a critical issue," the IAEA reports, in terms of the public acceptance of nuclear technology and for any future expansion of nuclear energy.

At an IAEA conference in Vienna in June 2003 on the storage of spent fuel from power reactors, for the first time a number of governments said they need to extend the length of time that spent fuel is stored at the generating facilities to 100 years and longer.

The longer storage time is needed, the IAEA said, as a result of "delays in repository disposal programs, lack of resources, uncertainties over whether to treat spent fuel as waste or a resource, lack of public acceptance of disposal, and lack of political will in moving forward on repository siting and construction."

These countries are also interested in ensuring the future retrievability of waste to ensure that there is enough flexibility in the future options available to them.

Nuclear Waste Management

The Yucca Mountain repository in the United States moved towards licensing, and progress was made on the Olkiluoto repository in Finland, and the site selection process for a final repository in Sweden, the IAEA said, all for the disposal of spent fuel and high level radioactive waste.

In January 2003, the European Commission adopted a set of legislative proposals that included directives on European Union wide nuclear safety and radioactive waste rules, with priority given to geological waste disposal. But in November the EU Council of Ministers formally deferred further consideration of these proposals to 2004.

Fuel removal pond, Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant, Sellafield, United Kingdom (Photo courtesy BNFL)

A notable development during the year was the opening of the HABOG storage facility in the Netherlands with a planned 100-year operational life; the involvement of the local population, particularly in the design of the facility, played a large part in the successful inauguration of this facility.

The commissioning of the French Morvilliers near surface disposal facility, for the disposal of very low activity radioactive waste primarily from decommissioning activities, was another major development.

Only a few governments have a long term strategy for managing spent fuel and radioactive waste, an issue that was of "concern" at the first Review meeting of the Contracting Parties of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management held in Vienna in November 2003. An issue of general concern was the comparatively small number of countries that have become Parties to the convention, only 33 at the end of 2003.

Nuclear Power of the Future

From the viewpoint of the IAEA, "no progress was made in 2003 on the Kyoto Protocol, which would help make nuclear power’s avoidance of greenhouse gas emissions valuable to investors." The next round of talks on energy and sustainable development is scheduled for the 13th session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development in 2006–2007.

A large increase in the supply of energy will be required in coming decades to power economic development, the IAEA recognizes, projecting that to the year 2030 the part nuclear power will play in the global energy supply will first grow and then decrease,

The agency estimates a 20 percent increase in global nuclear generation until the end of 2020, followed by a decrease, resulting in global nuclear generation in 2030 that will be only 12 percent higher than in 2002.

Nuclear power’s share of global electricity generation is projected at 12 percent in 2030, compared with 16 percent in 2002, the IAEA said.

The agency expressed concern that the nuclear expertise that exists today might not be passed on to the next generation of scientists and engineers, now that the rapid nuclear expansion of the 1970s and 1980s has leveled off.

Nuclear power plants are better guarded than before September 11, 2001. (Photo courtesy IAEA)

Within the framework of the agency’s technical and scientific programs, the Asian Network for Education in Nuclear Technology, the Asian Network for Nuclear Safety and the Ibero-American Radiation Safety Network are all in development. The first two are entering full operation this year, and the third was launched during the General Conference by Spain and will be associated with the activities of the Ibero-American Forum of Nuclear Regulators.

"The future viability of nuclear power is dependent not only on resolving issues of economics, safety and security, waste management and proliferation resistance, but also on the development of innovative technologies that can enhance the positive aspects of this energy source," the IAEA said.

Twenty IAEA member governments are working on evolutionary and innovative reactor and fuel cycle designs, the agency said.

Complementing the national initiatives are two major international efforts to promote innovation - the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) and the IAEA’s International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles (INPRO).

In 2002, GIF selected six concepts for international collaborative research and development and, in 2003, made progress on establishing the management and oversight structure for subsequent work and specific cooperative R&D agreements.

In June 2003, INPRO published a report defining user requirements in five areas - economics, environmental impacts, safety, waste management and proliferation resistance - for incorporation into nuclear R&D projects. It also provided an assessment method for applying these requirements to specific innovative nuclear concepts and designs; this method is currently being tested by INPRO participants.

Fresh Water With Nuclear Technology

In 2003, the IAEA made contributions to the accessibility of fresh water to the one-sixth of the world's population that suffers from water scarcity.

Collecting water samples for isotope measurements from an artesian well in Morocco. (Photo courtesy IAEA)

The IAEA contributed to the 3rd World Water Forum held in Kyoto, Japan and chaired the session to launch the UN’s first World Water Development Report. It has more than 80 technical cooperation projects, covering the mapping of underground aquifers, managing surface water and groundwater, detecting and controlling pollution, and monitoring dam leakage and safety.

The efforts of IAEA member governments to explore the desalination of seawater using nuclear energy are also being supported by the agency. At the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant in Pakistan, a reverse osmosis facility in service since 2000 has been producing about 450 cubic metres of fresh water per day.

In India, at the Kalpakkam nuclear power plant, a desalination plant designed to produce 6,300 cubic metres of fresh water per day is undergoing commissioning.

In South Korea a design has been developed for a nuclear desalination plant which would supply 40,000 cubic metres of fresh water per day and 90 megawatts of electricity.