The challenge to select and assess the outstanding events of the year for the release of the July 2015 edition of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report turned out to be particularly tough: For the first time in 45 years, Japan was without nuclear electricity (and no lights went out) and, indeed, without any operating industrial nuclear facility or even research reactor; AREVA, the self-proclaimed “global leader in nuclear energy”, went technically bankrupt; China, the global leader in new-build, launched a construction site after a 15-month break; in the U.K., concerning the French sponsored new-build project, there are “growing suspicions” that the Treasury “would not be disappointed if Hinkley [Point C] never happened”; the French draft Energy Bill passed the second reading at the French National Assembly stipulating the reduction of the nuclear share from three quarters to about half by 2025; and so on.
While this report attempts to provide an overview of essential events of the past year its main aim is to identify and highlight the trends.
You can download the PDF version of the 2015 Report: