The future of nuclear energy in western industrialised nations

The countries with early ambitious nuclear power programs have suffered restrictions, even standstills, of these programs in recent years. The reasons are partly saturated electricity requirements, with satisfactory shares of nuclear power not in urgent need of further expansion. In some cases, however, the reason is also the increasingly more negative attitude of the public based on concerns about the safety of nuclear power plants and of waste management and also on the opposition by political groupings, which has been intensified after the Chernobyl accident. In the long run, however, the prospects of nuclear power may become brighter again. There will be new requirements; old plants will have to be replaced; nuclear power plants will agian be regarded as particularly non-polluting plants; and the prices of electricity generation in conventional plants will continue to rise, thus enlarging the gap relative to the generating costs in nuclear plants. (orig.)