May 02, 2024
Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security (SGS) and the Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment (C-PREE), both part of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), jointly organized the North America launch of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2023.
The report, which first appeared in 1992 and has been published annually since 2007, is an authoritative and comprehensive assessment of the status and trends of the international nuclear industry. It compiles and analyzes public data on nuclear power plant operation, production, fleet age, and construction, newbuild programs in existing and potentially new nuclear countries, and of small modular reactor development. The 2023 report has contributions by leading interdisciplinary experts from seven countries.
Presentations at the launch started with a global overview of the state of nuclear power as of the end of 2023 by Mycle Schneider, the report’s coordinator and convening lead author, who noted that only 32 countries now operated nuclear power programs, one fewer (Germany) than in the previous year. Doug Koplow, the Founding Director of Earth Track, outlined the current challenging economics and financing of nuclear power plants while Timothy Judson of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service reviewed the overall status and trends in nuclear energy in the United States, which is struggling with increasing costs and an aging reactor fleet. M.V. Ramana, a Visiting Fellow at SGS and a Professor at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada provided a summary of small modular reactor development around the world highlighting the significant gap between the reality on the ground of cost escalations and time overruns and the industry and media claims about these reactor types.
The launch event was held at the SPIA center in Washington DC and was attended by nuclear policy analysts, environmentalists, and journalists. The video is here.