page_title: Nuclear power
section_title: Nuclear renaissance
hierarchical_section_title: Nuclear power / History / Nuclear renaissance
caption_attribution_description: Suomi: Olkiluodon kolmas voimala rakenteilla vuonna 2009.
context_page_description: Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions that release nuclear energy to generate heat, which most frequently is then used in steam turbines to produce electricity in a nuclear power plant. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium. Nuclear decay processes are used in niche applications such as radioisotope thermoelectric generators. Generating electricity from fusion power remains at the focus of international research.
  Civilian nuclear power supplied 2,563 terawatt hours of electricity in 2018, equivalent to about 10% of global electricity generation, and was the second largest low-carbon power source after hydroelectricity. As of December 2019, there are 443 civilian fission reactors in the world, with a combined electrical capacity of 395 gigawatt. There are also 56 nuclear power reactors under construction and 109 reactors planned, with a combined capacity of 60 GW and 120 GW, respectively.
context_section_description: In the early 2000s, the nuclear industry was expecting a nuclear renaissance, an increase in the construction of new reactors, due to concerns about carbon dioxide emissions. However, in 2009, Petteri Tiippana, the director of STUK's nuclear power plant division, told the BBC that it was difficult to deliver a Generation III reactor project on schedule because builders were not used to working to the exacting standards required on nuclear construction sites, since so few new reactors had been built in recent years.
  In 2018 the MIT Energy Initiative study on the future of nuclear energy concluded that, together with the strong suggestion that government should financially support development and demonstration of new Generation IV nuclear technologies, for a worldwide renaissance to commence, a global standardization of regulations needs to take place, with a move towards serial manufacturing of standardized units akin to the other complex engineering field of aircraft and aviation. At present it is common for each country to demand bespoke changes to the design to satisfy varying national regulatory bodies, often to the benefit of domestic engineering supply firms. The report goes on to note that the most cost-effective projects have been built with multiple (up to six) reactors per site using a standardized design, with the same component suppliers and construction crews working on each unit, in a continuous work flow.
caption: Olkiluoto 3 under construction in 2009. It was the first EPR, a modernized PWR design, to start construction. Problems with workmanship and supervision have created costly delays. The reactor is estimated to cost three times the initial estimate and will be delivered over 10 years behind schedule.[95]
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