Nuclear Prospects in Southeast Asia and the Far East: A Review of Emerging Markets for Nuclear Power

Abstract

World energy demand driven by population growth and economic development will be over 50% higher in 2020 than in 1990. More and more of this energy is being provided as electricity. Nuclear power already provides a significant proportion of the electricity generated world-wide. World demand for electricity will double by 2020, but in the first 15 years of this period world-wide nuclear capacity will expand by less than 20%. Much of this expansion will occur in the emerging markets of the Far East and South East Asia, whose energy needs are expanding at a fast rate because of their position in the development cycle. An even larger role for nuclear power in these countries is possible despite financing difficulties. It is desirable, even inevitable, if they take the aims of the 1992 Rio Convention on Climate Change seriously.

The paper reviews present plans for nuclear power in this area, including those countries which at present do not have nuclear power but consider it a serious option for the future. It will consider the financial implications.