It may be that for some just hearing the words “nuclear power” causes complete revulsion, with obvious associations with the devastation of a nuclear war and disasters like Chernobyl or the misunderstood Fukushima (here the disaster did not come from the nuclear plant but from the tsunami). , but for many countries nuclear energy is a reality covering a serious part of their electricity needs. Today 436 nuclear reactors are in commercial operation in 32 countries with a total installed capacity of 391.7 GW with their production covering approximately 10% of the world’s electricity needs.
In addition, it should be mentioned that 59 new nuclear reactors are under construction while 213 reactors have been closed and are in the decommissioning process. In addition, 50 countries operate research reactors used in the production of medical and industrial isotopes. In the wider region of South-Eastern and Central Europe, six (6) nuclear power plants operate in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia (see map). Turkey was recently added, having completed the first unit in Akouyi with a capacity of 1200 MW, which will be put into commercial operation by the end of 2023, with three more (3) units under construction with gradual integration into its electricity system until 2028.
The total installed capacity of nuclear units in operation today amounts to 11.6 GW Within the next five years the total installed capacity in Central and SE Europe, excluding Turkey, will have increased by 5.0 GW, already under construction on order.
Today, operating nuclear plants in SE Europe (not including Czech Republic and Slovakia) cover 16% of total electricity needs according to IEΝΕ (Institute of Energy for SE Europe) data for 2021. (See ΙΕΝΕ Energy Outlook 2021/2022, IEA, 2022) As shown at the conference entitled “Fuelling the Energy Transition with Nuclear” organized jointly by the New Nuclear World Institute together with IENE in Budapest on June 20, there is renewed interest at the level of governments and companies in the region for new investments in nuclear power plants with nuclear energy to it is now included in the famous EU Energy Taxonomy, since it is considered an energy source with almost zero carbon footprint.
One of the main conclusions of the above conference was that without a significant increase in the electricity produced by nuclear plants, the SE Europe region will not be able to approach the EU’s 2040 – much less 2030 – emission reduction targets. and in the overall coverage of energy needs with clean energy. Given that very few countries in the region (with the exception of Greece and Romania) have appreciable production from RES, the role of nuclear energy in the production of clean energy appears particularly enhanced.
With regard to the utilization of nuclear energy in Greece, all post-colonial governments and parties, without any exception, have adopted a completely negative attitude and in fact without substantial scientific research or economic-technical evaluation. Everyone has jumped on the bandwagon of green growth and RES without a second thought, disregarding the simple but immutable rules of energy security that mandate diversification of the energy mix.
It should be noted that in order to support the comfortable penetration of variable RES into the grid, in recent years net imports of electricity from neighboring countries have increased significantly. According to an analysis by IENE (see Energy Analysis Bulletin No 302, IENE, January 2023) these were formed at 8790 GWh and covered 8% of the total electricity needs in 2022, while in 2019 they had jumped to 12745 GWh covering approximately 12% of the needs.
According to estimates by independent researchers, at least 60% of the above imports were made thanks to the cheap production from the nuclear plants of the neighboring countries. So despite the fact that Greece is against nuclear energy it does not hesitate to import large amounts of electricity produced by it.
