Asia: Where the Nuclear Renaissance is Happening

Due to faux environmental concerns, the nuclear renaissance appears to be passing most of Europe and the Anglosphere by. Asian countries, on the other hand, are concerned about the future of their populations, and their civilisations. That concern for the real future apparently sets Asian cultures apart from their contemporary western counterparts.

Asia has the potential to dwarf U.S. nuclear power activity. Across the continent, there are 112 nuclear reactors in operation, 37 under construction, 84 more planned and proposals for more waiting in the wings, according to the World Nuclear Association

China alone has 11 units operating, 22 under construction and 35 planned, another 120 proposed, as well as 13 research reactors. Electricity demand in China is growing at 8 percent annually.

Japan, which has 54 reactors in operation with two under construction and 12 more planned, last weekend hosted an energy conference of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Much of the talk was about the BP Gulf oil spill and moves to cleaner energy, including nuclear.

South Korea has 20 reactors, with six under construction and six more planned. It gets 35 percent of its power from nuclear. In December, a South Korean consortium trumped French and U.S. interests to win a $20.4 billion order for four new reactors in the United Arab Emirates.

India has 19 power reactors with four more being built. Taiwan has six reactors with two under construction.

And it’s not just the Asian heavyweights who are pursuing nuclear power. Vietnam is planning for 30 reactors by 2030. Other Southeast Asian nations now contemplating nuclear power include Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.

Both China and South Korea are pursuing nuclear cooperation agreements in the region. Recent headlines heralded South Korea’s efforts to negotiate civil nuclear pacts with India and Turkey. In May China confirmed that it had signed a controversial agreement to provide Pakistan with two commercial reactors.

China also recently acquired a small stake in the U.S. Enrichment Corp., (USEC). A Hong Kong firm owned in part by the Chinese government, the reports state, bought a 5.1 percent stake in USEC, the lone U.S.-owned provider of enriched uranium for reactors globally. USEC currently supplies reactors in the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Asian nuclear expansion is fueled by the mix of economies, large and small, that are recovering from the 2008 global economic meltdown with a quiet efficiency not yet seen the West. _NuclearTownhall

Australia had sense enough to dispose of Kevin Rudd and his Luddite regime. Americans need to do the same with Obama Pelosi. The future does not tolerate fools such as Obama Pelosi or Rudd. Their malignant destruction-by-neglect regimes will not be remembered well by history.