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| Fig. 1: Top ten countries for nuclear energy output in 2020 (%). Metric is input-equivalent exajoules. [1] (Source: F. Dayton) |
The world generated 2.68 × 104 TWh (9.65 × 1019 J) of electricity in 2020. [1] Of that, 2.7 × 103 TWh, or roughly 10%, came from nuclear fission. [1] The top three countries in the world for nuclear fission energy output in 2020 were the United States, China and France with 7.39, 3.56 and 3.14 input-equivalent exajoules, respectively. [1] The definition of "input-equivalent" is the equivalent amount of fossil fuel input required to generate that amount of electricity in a standard thermal power plant. For example, if a nuclear power plant generates 0.178 "input-equivalent exajoules" of power a year, and we take the 2020 average thermal power plant efficiency of 40.5% [1], this is equivalent to
| 0.178 × 1018 J 3.6 × 1015 J TWh-1 |
× 0.405 | = | 20 TWh |
Converting the above figures to TWh using this methodology yields 831.4, 400.5 and 353.3 TWh for the United States, China and France, respectively, of electricity generated from nuclear power in 2020. The top ten countries in world in 2020 with the largest energy output from nuclear fission are depicted in Fig. 1. From this point on, all energy will be stated in TWh of electricity.
In the top three countries for nuclear power output, how has nuclear energy changed in the past 20 years, both in absolute output and as a share of total electricity?
In the United States, nuclear energy output has risen from 753.9 TWh in 2000 to 807.1 TWh in 2018, while consistently making up about 19% of electricity generation for the past 20 years. [2] In 2000, it was 19.83%, 2010 19.56% and 2018 19.32%. [2]
In France, electricity produced from nuclear has fallen from 415.2 TWh in 2000 to 379.5 TWh in 2019, while nuclear's share in electricity production has also declined from 76.9% in 2000 to 71.7% in 2017. [3]
China, the world's second largest producer of energy from nuclear power (after the United States) tells a much different story. Electricity production from nuclear power increased from 16.74 TWh in 2000 to 348.35 TWh in 2019, as more than 20-fold increase. Nuclear power went from 1.26% in 2000 to 4.88% in 2019 as a share of total electricity production in China. [3]
It is noteworthy that both Germany and Japan have seen rapid decreases in nuclear energy output in the last 20 years. In Germany, nuclear energy output has decreased from 169 TWh in 2000 to 76 TWh in 2018, going from 30.6% to 11.7% of electricity production. [3] This represents a 4.36% decrease per year in electricity generation from nuclear energy. In Japan, in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, electricity generated from nuclear power went from 288.2 TWh in 2010 to 9.4 TWh in 2015, a decrease of 97%. [3] Nuclear power's share of electricity production fell from 31.4% to 1.2% during the same period. Nuclear power is recovering, however, accounting 7.0% of electricity production in 2018. [3]
There are 6 main types of nuclear reactor designs: Boiling Water Reactor (BWR), Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR), Gas Cooled Reactor (GCR), Light Water Gas-Cooled Reactor (LWGR), Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) and Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). [4]
This paper will not go into the specific design differences of each reactor, but all use some combination of fissable material to heat a coolant to turn a turbine.
In 2021, there were 442 functional nuclear reactors around the world. [3] The breakdown of the six types of reactors was 302 PWRs, 63 BWRs, 48 PHWRs, 14 GCRs, 12 LWGRs and 3 FBRs. [3]
Pressurized water reactors (PWR) dominate, particularly in the West. In Western Europe, they make up 62% of all reactors. [3] In the US, 63 of the 94 reactors (67%) are pressurized water reactors, while the other 31 are boiling water reactors (BWR). [3] Pressurized water reactors reactors likely dominate in the West because they are based on the nuclear reactors that powered the first US nuclear submarines. The first nuclear reactor developed in the United States after World War II was the pressurized water reactor for nuclear submarines. The project, led by Hyman G. Rickover, launched the US Nautilus submarine in 1955. The same reactor design was then used to build the first land-based nuclear power plant, Shippingport, in 1957.
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| Fig. 2: Taishan Nuclear Power Plant, China. (Source: Wikimedia Commons) |
Between 2010 and 2020, energy consumption from nuclear in China grew by an average of 16% each year, more than any other country in the world. [1] As of 2021, China had 50 operational reactors, 13 under construction, and 29 more planned. [3] This compares to 2 reactors under construction in the US and 0 planned. [3]
Most of China's reactors are of the PWR design based directly on the AP1000 reactor designed by American nuclear company Westinghouse. The CAP1000 and CAP1400 reactors, popular builds in China, are enlarged versions of the AP1000 reactor, for example. China's newest, most advanced reactor is called the Hualong One, or HPR1000. The Hualong One Reactor is a Generation III, advanced pressurized water reactor with all core advancements and design choices made in China. Notably, all independent intellectual property rights for the Hualong One reactor are held in China. The Hualong One Reactor design is the focus for reactors planned to be built in the immediate future. The first Hualong One Reactor connected to the grid was Fuqing Unit #5, which came online in October 2020. Fig. 2. shows a nuclear power plant in the Guangdong Province, China.
Over the past ten years, world nuclear power output went from 2.77 × 103 TWh to 2.698 × 103 TWh between 2010 and 2020 (38.% and 40.5% thermal efficiencies were used for 2010 and 2020, respectively, to convert from input-equivalent exajoules to TWh of electricity). [1] Notably, OECD countries have tended to decrease the most, going from 2.31 × 103 TWh to 1.875 × 103 TWh over that period. [1] At the same time, non-OECD countries, specifically China, have increased nuclear energy output between 2010 and 2020, going from .467 × 103 TWh to .822 × 103 TWh in input-equivalent exajoules in that period. [1]
© Finn Dayton. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] "BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2021," British Petroleum, June 2021.
[2] "Monthly Energy Review - February 2022," US Energy Information Administration, DOE/EIA-0035(2022/2), February 2022, Table 7.2b.
[3] "Nuclear Power Reactors in the World," International Atomic Energy Agency, 2021.
[4] "Nuclear Safety and the Environment," European Commission, October 2001.
