Platts Survey: World Nuclear Generation Sets Record In 2006

Platts Survey: World Nuclear Generation Sets Record In 2006

February 16, 2007

    WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The world's
nuclear operators have set a record for total power
generation in 2006, according to preliminary data just
released by Nucleonics Week, a publication of Platts, the
world's leading energy information provider and top
supplier of benchmark spot energy prices.

    Led by notably improved output in Canada, Japan and
Russia and sustained performance in the U.S., South Korea,
and France, the world's nuclear-generated power output is
likely to hit 2.8 billion gross megawatt-hours (MWh), the
Platts Nucleonics Week annual 2006 survey shows. This
compares to 2.75 billion MWh in 2005 and is the largest
figure on record since Platts began compiling nuclear
generation data in the late 1960s. Final 2006 figures for
China and Slovakia are not yet available.

    "This is important news for anyone concerned about
the environmental impacts of electricity sources. Nuclear
power plants generally run in baseload, 24 hours a day, and
emit no carbon. The more power an operator can get out of
each plant, the less electricity has to come from burning
fossil fuels or hydro plants, the only other 24-hour-a-day
sources," said Margaret Ryan, Platts' editorial
director for nuclear. "Also, most operators say
nuclear is their cheapest source of electricity, so a
larger nuclear share can help to hold costs down."

    The U.S. 2006 output of nearly 823 million gross MWh
was above 2005's 816 million MWh, but fell short of the
2004 US record of 828 million MWh. On average, U.S. nuclear
power plants were operating at 90% or near full capacity.

    Notable productivity gains were made in Canada and
Russia. The output of Canada's nuclear reactors grew 6.2%
in megawatt-hours in 2006. Aided by the return to service
of the Pickering-1 reactor, Ontario Power Generation got
14.7% more nuclear generation from the Pickering station in
2006 than in 2005, while Bruce Nuclear Power got 10.7% more
out of its existing Bruce station facilities. Meanwhile,
Russia's nuclear power plants gleaned about 5.3% more
power, or about 9 million MWh, from their stations in 2006
than during the prior year.  Both nations have been on a
trend of getting more generation from their power reactors
in the last several years.

    U.S. nuclear power generation plants led the world list
of best performers by capacity utilization, occupying half
of the top 50 slots, while German reactors dominated in
size, topping the list of the 50 largest generators. The
U.S. has 103 operating reactors. U.S.-based Florida Power
& Light's St. Lucie-1 and Entergy's Vermont Yankee
turned in the world's highest capacity utilization rates,
each above 102%, during 2006. The largest output came from
E.On's 1,475-MW Isar-2 reactor, whose 12,442,254 MWh was
nearly 700,000 MWh more than the second largest generator,
Vattenfall-E.On's 1,440-MW Brokdorf reactor. The US South
Texas Project's 1,333-MW South Texas-2 reactor was just
16,000 MWh behind Brokdorf.

    France's 58 power reactors performed well during the
year but did not show up at the top of the performance
charts because they all load-follow, reducing power
periodically to accommodate the needs of grid balancing.
France derives nearly 80% of its electricity from nuclear
sources. Japan's 55 reactors have been hit by a series of
regulatory outages over the past three years, which have
kept a number of them off-line, and kept the national
average capacity factor below 70%.

    Nuclear power generation accounts for about 16% of the
world's electricity output. Platts Nucleonics Week's 2007
annual overview of world nuclear performance will be
released in February, 2008. For more information about
global nuclear power generation, visit Platts at
http://www.platts.com .
 
    About Platts:

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information. With nearly a century of business experience,
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From 14 offices worldwide, Platts serves the oil, natural
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Additional information is available at
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