Nuclear power popular despite Fukushima: OECD boss Luis Echavarri
Developing nations plan to build more plants to cut costs and emissions despite safety concerns in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in 2011
Interest in nuclear power has not waned since Japan's nuclear disaster 2½years ago because developing nations see it as an economical way to improve energy security and cut emissions despite safety concerns, according to an expert.
Luis Echavarri, director general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Nuclear Energy Agency, told the World Energy Congress that a survey by the intergovernmental organisation of industrialised nations found that 25 of its 34 member nations planned to build more nuclear power plants.
That is despite some nations, including Germany, Italy and Switzerland, having decided to phase out nuclear power after a powerful earthquake and tsunami triggered equipment failure and a prolonged release of radioactive material at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in March 2011.
Some 64 reactors were under construction globally before the disaster and all except those in Japan had continued construction, Echavarri said.
Samir Brikho, chief executive of Britain-based engineering and project management consultancy AMEC, said that although the number of projects in operation had fallen due to shutdowns, the number of units under construction globally had risen 10 per cent since the disaster.
"We can't ignore that nuclear will continue to be part of the [energy supply] equation for many decades to come," he said. "Once the global economic crisis is over in three to four years, we will see renewed interest."