Despite the Fukushima nuclear power plant
disaster that hit Japan last year, the global appetite for nuclear
energy remains largely unchanged as emerging economic powers are set to
account for much of the growth in worldwide electricity demand in the
coming decades, a U.S. think tank expert said at a recent seminar in
Tokyo.
The United States also has not wavered from its
recent moves to resume construction of nuclear power plants for the
first time since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979. However, the
future of the U.S. nuclear power industry will hinge on various other
factors, including price competition with domestically produced natural
gas, Jane Nakano said.
Nakano, a research fellow with the energy and
national security program at the Center for Strategic and International
Studies, was speaking at the seminar organized by the Keizai Koho
Center on June 13 to discuss the global prospects for nuclear energy and
U.S. energy policy.
Before the Fukushima accident in March 2011,
about 30 countries around the world operated over 440 nuclear power
reactors, which accounted for 14 percent of global electricity
generation. The nuclear power industry has seen steady growth, with
about 50 commercial reactors coming online over the past 15 years,
Nakano said.
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