Global nuclear generating capacity increased slightly in 2016 to 391.4 GWe net, up from 382.2 GWe at the end of 2015, according to data from the World Nuclear Association. Construction of three large reactor projects also started during 2016, while three units were permanently shut down.
Ten new nuclear power reactors with a combined generating capacity of 9579 MWe came online in 2016.
Five of these – Ningde 4, Hongyanhe 4, Changjiang 2, Fangchenggang 2 and Fuqing 3 – were in China.
Unit 3 of South Korea’s Shin Kori plant was also connected to the grid
India’s Kudankulam 2,
Pakistan’s Chashma 3,
Russia’s Novovoronezh 6 and
USA’s Watts Bar 2.
In 2015, 9497 MWe of new nuclear generating capacity was connected to the grid, while 4763 MWe was added in 2014.
A further 92 MWe net of nuclear generating capacity was also added during 2016 through reactor uprates. Some 72 MWe of capacity was added at Peach Bottom 3 and 20 MWe at Catawba 1, both in the USA, through uprates. In 2015, 484 MWe of new capacity was added through uprates.
China started construction of the 1080 MWe Tianwan 6 and the 1150 MWe Fangchenggang 4 during 2016. In addition, China General Nuclear also started construction of a 60 MWe floating nuclear power plant project.
Construction was also started last year at unit 3 of Pakistan’s Karachi nuclear power plant, where work on unit 2 began in 2015.
Three power reactors with a combined capacity of 1402 MWe were officially shut down in 2016. These were Ikata 1 in japan, Fort Calhoun in the USA and unit 3 of Russia’s Novovoronezh plant.
Jan to Sept, 2016 YTD electricity statistics were available for the OECD
Nuclear energy generation was just slightly ahead of 2015. Renewables were up 10%.
China Jan-Aug 2016 power consumption was up +4.2 pct y/y Power consumption totalled 3.89 trillion kwh in the first eight months of 2016, up 4.2 percent from the same period last year. Power consumption was on track to about 5.85 trillion kwh for the whole year. The rapid rise in August power consumption reversed the recent negative growth in thermal power production, with power generated from coal and natural gas rising 7.7 percent from a year ago in August, the NRDC’s Zhao said.
Hydropower output climbed 5.8 percent while nuclear power production increased 20.1 percent during August.
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