Nuclear Energy After Chernobyl: Views from Four Countries

Abstract

At the end of 1986, 397 nuclear power plants with a total of 274 GW were in operation worldwide. Their electricity generation was equivalent to burning 500 million tons of coal or 7 million barrels per day of oil, roughly 40 percent of the OPEC output. When the 134GW under construction are finished, uranium-based electricity will substitute some 850 million tons of coal equivalent (mtce) per year. Nuclear power is now the largest primary energy source for electricity generation in the twelve countries of the European Community.