Nuclear energy policy
any policy towards usage of nuclear fuels for energy generation / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nuclear energy policy is a national and international policy concerning some or all aspects of nuclear energy, such as mining for nuclear fuel, extraction and processing of nuclear fuel from the ore, electricity generation by nuclear power, enriching and storing spent nuclear fuel and nuclear fuel reprocessing. Since nuclear energy and nuclear weapons technologies are closely related, military aspirations can act as a factor in energy policy decisions. The fear of nuclear proliferation influences some international nuclear energy policies.
The use of nuclear energy is limited to a relatively small number of countries in the world. As of 2007, only 31 countries, or 16% of the 191 United Nations Member States, operated nuclear power plants.[2] Countries that rely most on nuclear energy were France (with 75% of its electricity generated by nuclear power stations), Lithuania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Sweden, Ukraine and South Korea. The largest producer of nuclear capacity was the USA with 28% of worldwide capacity, followed by France (18%) and Japan (12%). In 2000, there were 438 commercial nuclear generating units throughout the world, with a total capacity of about 351 gigawatts.
Following the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, Germany has permanently shut down eight of its 17 reactors.[3] Italy voted to keep their country non-nuclear.[4] Switzerland and Spain have banned the construction of new reactors.[5] As of 2013, countries such as Australia, Austria, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Israel, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Norway remain opposed to nuclear power.[6][7] Germany and Switzerland are phasing-out nuclear power.[7][8][9] Globally, more nuclear power reactors have closed than opened in recent years.[8]