Nuclear power is the largest source of low-carbon electricity in OECD countries, with an 18% overall share of electricity production in 2013, and is in second place globally with an 11% share, according to the 2015 Nuclear Energy Technology Roadmap published by the Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Energy Agency
The updated Roadmap sees nuclear continuing to play a major role in lowering emissions from the power sector, while improving security of energy supply, supporting fuel diversity and providing large-scale electricity at stable production costs.
The document notes that, although the near-term outlook for nuclear energy has been impacted in many countries by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident, in the medium to long term, prospects for nuclear energy remain positive. Nuclear safety remains the highest priority for the nuclear sector. Although the primary responsibility for nuclear safety lies with the operators, regulators have a major role to play to ensure that all operations are carried out to the highest levels of safety. Lessons learnt from the Fukushima Daiichi accident have emphasised that regulators should be strong and independent.
Nuclear energy is a mature low-carbon technology, which has followed a trend towards increased safety levels and power output to benefit from economies of scale. This trajectory has come with an increased cost for Generation III reactors compared with previous generations, but this should also lead to better performance and economics for standardised Nth-of-a-kind (NOAK) plants, although this has yet to be confirmed.