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The big picture

In almost all major industrial countries worldwide today, nuclear power plants (NPPs) are used to generate electricity. There are two reasons for the current use of nuclear power: high world prices for fossil fuels and the fear of climate change due to CO2 emissions during combustion. However, the Fukushima Daiichi accident affected the nuclear energy renaissance and since, safety aspects were significantly strengthened. All those elements are combined with an increasing demand for electric energy. At present, more than 440 nuclear power plants are in operation worldwide, including more than 200 in Europe. 289 reactors in the world are older than 25 years among which 60 are above 40 years. For many existing NPPs, lifetime extensions to 40, 50, 60 or even 80 years are requested. By 2020, the number of reactors of more than 40 years of operation will exceed 100. The long-term operation (LTO) of existing NPPs has already been accepted in many countries as a strategic objective to ensure adequate supply of electricity over the coming decades.

Data: 31 Dec 2016, NUCLEAR POWER REACTORS IN THE WORLD 2017 Edition, INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA), VIENNA, 2017