Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 1.1
Nuclear power reactor capacity installed in the world by 2013
Number of nuclear
power reactors
Nuclear power reactor
capacity GW(e)
Share of nuclear energy in total
electrical energy (%)
Country
USA
103
103.198
20
France
58
63.130
76
Japan
a
50
44.104
23
Russia
33
23.642
18
Canada
19
13.473
14
South-
Korea
23
20.697
38
Great
Britain
16
9.213
12
Ukraine
15
13.107
47
China
15
11.658
3
Sweden
10
9.303
42
Germany
9
12.058
16
Spain
7
7.066
16
Rest of the
World
75
40.931
-
Sum
433
371.580
-
a
All reactors in Japan, except for two PWRs, were under safety review before restart in early 2013
South-Korea (5), Japan (3), Argentina (1), Brazil (1), United Arab. Emirates (4) and
Turkey (4). Again 88 % of these nuclear power reactors are LWRs, predominantly
of the PWR type. Modern LWRs have a yearly power availability factor of about
85-93 %. They are predominantly operated in the base load regime, but can also be
operated in partial load. Especially in Russia they were and are also used for heat
generation for district heating and desalination (BN-350) [
1
].
During the past decades nuclear power reactors were designed for an operation
time of 35-40 years. Modern LWRs, however, are designed for an operation time of
60 years.
1.1 Uranium Resources
Natural uranium is found in uranium ores in concentrations from around fractions
of a percent to several percent. Natural uranium can be bought on the world market
from uranium resources and uranium mines in Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan,
Niger, Namibia, Russia, Uzbekistan, USA and other countries. Natural uranium
contains 0.7204 % of the isotope U-235, 99.2742 % of the isotope U-238 and
0.0054 % of the isotope U-234. For LWRs this natural uranium must be enriched in
the isotope U-235 up to a concentration of 4-5 %.
The available uranium resources are assessed on a yearly basis by IAEA and
OECD/NEA and listed in different categories. The uranium resources were
assessed in 2007 by IAEA and OECD/NEA to be 5.47 million tons (reasonably
