SCIENCENVIRO (Opinion): Global appetite for Nuclear Power

The appetite for nuclear power varies strongly from country to country.
Some treat it as a side dish, some as a staple part of the diet, and a few—like France—sup on it almost to the exclusion of all else.
Until the crisis at Japan's Fukushima plant that began on March 11th 2011, the biggest change foreseen in these habits was a large increase among Asian countries.
While some of China’s plans for new reactors have been temporarily put on hold since Fukushima, and others may not materialise, even a modest increase in the percentage of energy it gets from nuclear would mark a substantial advance for the technology on the global scale.
Japan’s previous plans for nuclear expansion will be held up for much longer, quite probably forever, but Korea remains committed to the technology. And with the West already showing a diminished appetite for nuclear power, it seems likely to become an ever more Asian speciality.
Germany, which once looked to nuclear for a substantial part of its energy supply, is getting out of the technology altogether as a response to Fukushima.
In other countries, though, doubts about the technology’s future are more likely to rest on concerns about price than concerns about safety. With costs very high – and with the costs of gas, which is often a rival source of electricity, at an historic low in America – the nuclear future looks likely to be slow at best.
This guide shows - for the 30 countries that currently use nuclear power - operational reactors by type, the amount electricity they produce, and the quantity of uranium they require to do so.