The Structure and Economics of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Service Industry

Abstract

The UK, USA and USSR have been using nuclear power to produce electrioitv commercially since the 1950s (then with prototype; the first full-sized reactors to com on stream in the UK were the Magnox reactors developed and built in the late 1950s and early 1960s; similar reactors were built in France, while developments in Canada and in the USA produced alternative commercial designs. The 1950s was also the decade in which the American ‘atoms for peace’ programme initiated the worldwide dissemination of information on nuclear power technology. By the end of 1978 there were some 220 reactors operating worldwide with a total capacity of some 120 GW [1] an energy equivalent of 3 million barrels of oil per day, or roughly 2% of world energy consumption. For the USA nuclear power was then providing some 13% of electricity; in the UK some 14%; Belgium 20% [2]. France has the most ambitious target of all of meeting 20% of her energy needs by 1985, requiring nuclear power to provide some 50% of total electricity production [3, 30]. The 1981 Report of the International Atomic Energy Agency showed that by end 1980 the number of reactors worldwide had risen to 253, generating some 8% of world electricity. In addition a further 230 reactors were then under construction and 118 were at the planning/ordering stage.