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The cost of ignoring the warning signs - EEA publishes ‘Late Lessons from Early Warnings, volume II’: New technologies have sometimes had very harmful effects, but in many cases the early warning signs have been suppressed or ignored. The second volume of Late Lessons from Early Warnings investigates specific cases where danger signals have gone unheeded, in some cases leading to deaths, illness and environmental destruction.
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Nuclear energy and waste production (ENER 013) - Assessment published Apr 2012: The amount of high level nuclear waste from nuclear electricity production continues to accumulate. In 2009, 34,824 tonnes of heavy metals contained in high level nuclear waste was in storage, up 4.7% since 2008. The annual quantity of spent fuel was approximately 1,828 tonnes of heavy metals in 2009. However, there is a decreasing trend in the annual quantity of spent fuel arisings since 1990. On the other hand, the amount of electricity produced from nuclear power has increased by 12.5% over the period 1990 to 2009 (see ENER27). This decoupling between electricity production and generation of radioactive waste can be explained by the fact that fuel rods are replaced gradually as well as by improvements in fuel burnup and plant efficiency [1] . [1] Energy efficiency is calculated using an efficiney coefficient of 33% for all reactors (the efficiency of a particular reactor type – CANDU) since all reactors types are slightly different. However overtime there is a trend towards more efficient reactors in Europe, such as those with breeder reactors/fuel enrichment. However, once a reactor is built, the efficiency assumed is fixed at 33%.
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Numbers of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities operational in 2011: Reprocessing is an important part of the fuel cycle within the European nuclear fuel industry, as illustrated by the share of European reprocessing facilities to the global total number of facilities. Europe imports most of the uranium consumed by its nuclear power plants as ore, having very little mining production in the region itself
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Cost structure of nuclear power projects: Cost structure of nuclear power projects
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Stored total amount of high level waste (in tonnes heavy metals): The figure shows the amount of high level nuclear waste continues to accumulate.
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EU Electricity production from nuclear (percentages relative to 1990 level): EU Electricity production from nuclear (percentages relative to 1990 level). Spent fuels arisings: Data for Bulgaria is not included due to a lack of information. No 2008 and 2009 data available for Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden, so 2007 data rolled. Lithuania closed its last nuclear reactor at the end of 2009.
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Nuclear energy and waste production (ENER 013) - Assessment DRAFT created Aug 2011: The amount of high level nuclear waste from nuclear electricity production continues to accumulate. In 2008, 44,102 tonnes of heavy metals contained in high level nuclear waste was in storage, up 34.1% since 2006. The annual quantity of spent fuel was approximately 2,328 [1] tonnes of heavy metals in 2008, relatively stable since 1990. On the other hand, the amount of electricity produced from nuclear power increased by 38.4% over the same period reference to the relative ENER indicator. This partial decoupling between electricity production and generation of radioactive waste can be explained by the fact that fuel rods are replaced gradually as well as by recent improvements in fuel burnup, plant efficiency and increased plant availability [1] Estimates are provisional and are based on NEA (2009) - Nuclear Energy Data 2009
Located in Data and maps › Indicators › Nuclear energy and waste production
Cost structure of nuclear power projects: Cost structure of nuclear power projects
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Numbers of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities operational in 2010: Reprocessing is an important part of the fuel cycle within the European nuclear fuel industry, as illustrated by the share of European reprocessing facilities to the global total number of facilities. Europe imports most of the uranium consumed by its nuclear power plants as ore, having very little mining production in the region itself
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EU Electricity production from nuclear (percentages relative to 1990 level): EU Electricity production from nuclear (percentages relative to 1990 level) Since 1990, the amount of arising spent fuel remained stable while, at the same time, the amount of electricity generated from nuclear power increased by 38.4%
Located in Data and maps › Maps and graphs