Global market for nuclear power plants still at rock bottom in 2024 - Nuclear power too expensive for AI applications
Global market for nuclear power plants still at rock bottom in 2024 - Nuclear power too expensive for AI applications
© wlad074 / Adobe StockMünster (renewablepress) - The global market for nuclear power plants has been stagnating at a very low level for years, with no real renaissance in sight. Even in view of the expected short-term increase in electricity demand from data centers for AI applications, new nuclear power plants are not a realistic option due to the long construction times alone.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), only six new nuclear power plants went into operation worldwide in 2024 (2023: five). At the same time, four old nuclear power plants (2023: five) were permanently decommissioned. The global net addition of nuclear power plants therefore amounts to just two new nuclear power plants.
According to IAEA data (as at 23.01.2025), new nuclear power plants with a total (net) capacity of 6,813 MW were connected to the grid in 2024. These are located in the United Arab Emirates (Barakah-4, 1,310 MW), China (Fangchenggang-4, 1,000 MW and Zhangzhou-1, 1,126 MW), India (Kakrapar-4, 630 MW), France (Flamanville-3, 1,630 MW) and the USA (Vogtle-4, 1,117 MW). At the same time, old nuclear power plants with a total capacity (net) of 2,891 MW were decommissioned worldwide in 2024, including Kursk-2 (925 MW) in Russia, Maanshan-1 (936 MW) in Taiwan and the two Pickering nuclear power plants 1 and 4 (515 MW each) in Canada.
The reasons for the weak growth of the global market for nuclear power plants remain unchanged: extremely high investment costs, very long construction times of 10 - 15 years and equally extremely high financing risks, which can practically only be assumed by state-owned companies. In addition, the market for nuclear power plants relies on a very small number of companies - mostly state-owned enterprises - that are able to build and export nuclear power plants at all.
One example of the enormous costs and long construction times of nuclear power plants is the French nuclear power plant Flamanville 3, which went into operation in 2024. In 2006, the construction costs for Flamanville 3 were estimated at 3.2 to 3.3 billion euros, with a construction period of 5 years. According to the French Court of Auditors, the costs have now exploded to 23.7 billion euros after 17 years of construction; with a return of, for example, 4 percent, the selling price for nuclear power would have to be 12.2 cents per kilowatt hour.
Even small, modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), which are advertised as a more cost-effective and flexible solution, cannot currently solve the fundamental problems of nuclear power. One example of the market difficulties of mini-nuclear power plants is the planned Idaho flagship project of Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) in the USA; the SMR project was abandoned due to exploding construction costs and too high costs for nuclear power.
“In view of the potential increase in electricity demand from AI data centers, nuclear power plants are not a competitive alternative to renewable energies. Building a new nuclear power plant simply takes too long, is extremely expensive and the financing remains risky,” says IWR Head Dr. Norbert Allnoch.
By way of comparison: while the net addition of nuclear power capacity will reach 3,922 MW worldwide in 2024, China alone has installed solar power plants with an incredible record capacity of 277,000 MW in the same period. Allnoch continues: “If China continues its current pace of building solar plants until 2030, the country will overtake the current power generation of the entire global nuclear power plant fleet by the end of the decade with its own low-cost solar power alone.”
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Caption: Global market for nuclear power plants still at rock bottom in 2024 - Nuclear power too expensive for AI applications
© wlad074 / Adobe Stock
Münster, 24 January 2025
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