Proceedings of the
Second International Energy 2030 Conference,
November 4-5, 2008, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
The Future of Nuclear Energy
Prof. Mujid S. Kazimi
Massachusetts of Institute Technology, USA
Abstract
Nuclear power provides 17% of world electricity, through plants located in 33 countries. After a very
rapid program for building nuclear plants in the 70’s and the 80’s, there has been a slow down in the
number of new plants. In the past 10 years, however, the fraction of electricity provided by nuclear energy
has been kept constant by deriving more energy from the existing plants, and by a few additional plants
mostly in Asian countries, like South Korea, Japan and China. The demand for electricity in the fast
growing economies of China and India has led to an ambitious plan for a large rise in the share of nuclear
in their electricity supply. In addition, after decades of stagnation in nuclear power in the US, new orders
appear imminent to partly meet the strong demand for electricity. All together, the announced intentions
around the World will add by 2025 about 165 new plants to the existing 442 plants.
