Several countries and groups are working on innovative reactor technology development. However, to develop a cost-effective innovative reactor design a large amount of research is required, particularly for the design and testing of new fuel and other materials and the final demonstration. In the deregulated market no one company or even a country can afford to or willing to allocate the expenses necessary to bring a design to the market place. Hence international development and partnership may be required. From this perspective two efforts are already underway — the US-initiated Generation IV International Forum (GIF) and the IAEA-initiated International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles (INPRO).

The time frame of interest to the GIF is two or three decades from now, and their goal is development of suitable technology for nuclear power (reliable and safe, sustainable, and economic). They also want to increase the assurance that the reactor system is a very unattractive and undesirable route for diversion or theft of weapons — usable materials. The US DOE has conducted wide-ranging discussions on the development of next-generation nuclear energy systems, engaging governments, industry and the research community of several countries. Ten countries have joined in this effort; they are Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, Republic of Korea, South Africa, Switzerland, UK and the US. After long deliberations, the GIF has selected six areas for further research and collaboration among interested countries. These are gas-cooled fast reactor, molten salt reactor, liquid sodium metal-cooled reactor, lead alloy-cooled reactor, supercritical water-cooled reactor and very high temperature reactor systems.

The objective of INPRO is to support the safe, sustainable, economic and proliferation-resistant use of nuclear technology to meet the global energy needs of the 21st century. INPRO is mainly focusing on developing user’s requirements for nuclear power for the long term — fifty years time frame. As of January 2002, there were 13 members in INPRO: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Turkey and the European Commission. The INPRO is developing a report to identify global user requirements for economics, safety, spent fuel and waste, non-proliferation and the environment, and establishing the criteria and methodologies for examination of nuclear reactor and fuel cycle technologies. The INPRO developed criteria are expected to be used by individual countries to assess their situation with respect to nuclear power introduction or expansion.

Conclusion

The global energy market is rapidly increasing and is expected to triple in about 50 years. Nuclear energy is free from greenhouse gas emissions and is excellent from an environmental perspective. In a closed cycle mode of operation, nuclear energy is almost an infinite source of energy; it could help improve the standard of living of all countries in the world. So nuclear power should expand, especially in developing countries, and could contribute to sustainable energy development for the world. With this in mind, many evolutionary designs of nuclear power plants have been developed to meet the high performance and the safety goals. The efficiency and economics of these new plants are excellent and are beginning to compete with other base load alternatives. These larger plants are currently being constructed in Japan, Republic of Korea and Taiwan, China. New small and medium sized designs are underway. They are of interest to many countries for many reasons. Due to population growth and demand for a higher standard of living, they are of primary importance to countries with a shortage of electric power and low grid capacity. Work is progressing on several innovative reactor and fuel cycle designs in several countries. However, these innovative, smaller reactor designs must be demonstrated in the near future because the time frame for the availability of commercial SMRs is very important as most developing countries can not wait for another two or three decades to increase their installed electricity generation capacities.

Many challenges remain for nuclear power to become an acceptable source of energy throughout the world. Notable among these are (1) implementing the disposal of high level waste, (2) making nuclear generated power economically competitive with fossil fuel alternatives in the deregulated market place, (3) continuing to assure non-proliferation and physical safety of nuclear plants, (4) developing economic reactors for small electricity grids and non-electric applications, and finally (5) continuing to assure the safety of nuclear reactors. The new evolutionary and innovative designs are responding to these challenges. Let us hope that the new surge of interest in nuclear power and the new activities that have been initiated in several countries will lead to a solution of the nuclear issues and provide adequate energy for all humanity.