The ongoing global energy crisis is giving countries a different perspective on how they plan to provide energy into the future.
The UK has decided that nuclear will play a bigger role, as the UK government announced yesterday that it plans to build up to eight new nuclear reactors, as the country aims to have 25% of its projected electricity demand supplied by nuclear by 2050. That's a substantial increase on the six reactors that are currently in use and a substantial turnaround on the last 20 years of nuclear output decline in the UK per data via Carbon Brief.
Nuclear, back in vogue?
At the global level nuclear power generation has been broadly unchanged in the last 15-20 years, accounting for only around 10% of total electricity generation. Furthermore, only a few countries, most notably France where 70%+ of electricity comes from nuclear, have gone "all-in" on the technology that's now been around for 60+ years — despite it being reliable and low emissions.
In the US nuclear power accounts for about 19% of all electricity generated, a number that's fallen slightly over the last few years as low-cost natural gas has marginalized nuclear. With gas prices soaring, that could change.
