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World nuclear reactors by year of grid connection (1954-2015)

Figura 1 ()


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As you can see nuclear had its golden age in '70-'80 years so that still today operational reactors built in that time represent 71% of the whole.

Almost all of the operating reactors is II generation and has a standard life cycle of 40 years, but they can get the license to extend the duration up to 60 years and over (e.g. as happened for many reactor in the United States).

However it can be seen from the graph that the largest peak of installations of the 70s and 80s has already been "attacked" by several closures. The fact that this large amount of reactors installed in the past is now subject to closures for aging poses serious limitations to the development of nuclear power in the future. In fact it is not seen until now (and it is not expected in the next years) a new peak of installations to be able to replace that of the 70s-80s.

This critical aspect is highlighted by the IAEA itself (certainly not hostile to nuclear power) which in its publication on the estimates for 2050 foresees a global nuclear production between 2030 and 2050 (even 20 years) that does not grow and remains stable, with a share on the production that comes down from 8.6% to only 4.2%.