In contributing towards covering world energy demand over a forecast period up to 2050 (Figure 1.2), nuclear energy plays a key role in generating electricity, which will mean a large number of newbuild projects worldwide. As the overview in Figure 1.4 shows, as at autumn 2009, as well as the 437 nuclear power plants already in operation, another 53 new nuclear power blocks were under construction, and another 76 new blocks were planned. The new blocks currently being built or planned mostly have (electricity) outputs from 1000 to 1600 MW. (Please note: the figures given in MW below indicate electrical energy, as opposed to thermal energy, which is stated in MWth.)

Nuclear energy now provides around 15% of the electricity generated worldwide. It avoids around 2.5 bn tonnes of CO2 emissions, so it makes a major contribution towards a sustainable electricity supply which achieves the goals in terms of economics, capability and the environment to a large extent.

For Germany, which uses wind energy relatively intensively, direct comparison shows that theoretically more wind energy was installed than nuclear in 2008 (23,300 MW as against 21,497 MW), but nuclear generated much more energy than wind, at

148.8 TWh as against 40.2 TWh. In other words, nuclear energy generates nearly 50% of baseload electricity in Germany.

Just how important nuclear energy is can also be seen from how economical it is in generating electricity. Building new nuclear power plants is relatively expensive in terms of capital costs, but the fuel costs involved (uranium), including disposal, are so low that the total cost (including disposal and end stage planning) of generating electricity is around 3-4 Euro cents per kWh [2]. This means that nuclear power is not affected by volatile fuel prices and guarantees a reliable supply, as the uranium deposits

Autumn 2009:437 nuclear power stations operational (in 32 countries)

53 nuclear power stations under construction (in 14 countries)

USA

France

it Britain Russia Canada

South Korea

Ukraine

Sweden

Spain

Belgium

irlands

Switzer and

Fig. 1.4 Generating energy from nuclear power [1]
that are worth extracting at today’s prices will be enough for more than 200 years, are spread across the world and the countries they originate in are politically stable.

The world, and Europe in particular, has recognised how important nuclear energy is when it comes to generating electricity, as the many newbuild projects show. A number of European countries, including Finland, France and Britain, have actually been building new nuclear power plants or planning them since 2005. These newbuild projects impose different requirements on structural engineering, not just in building them, but in interim and final storage and restoration work. We will look at these tasks, with their specific safety requirements, below.