Quantifying a renaissance, what a difference a year makes

The UIC does an excellent job tracking the global nuclear industry. Just one of the may things they do well is produce and trend quantifiable data.

From the UIC reactor page.

Looking back at January 2007 data and comparing that to this month's update, I am encouraged by the global and across the board gains seen by nuclear power.

Specifically in one year, the number of:

• operating reactors increased from 435 to 439 (just under 1% increase),
• reactors under construction increased from 28 to 34 (over 21% increase),
• planned reactors increased from 64 to 93 (over 45% increase) and
• proposed reactors increased from 153 to 222 (over 45% increase).

Also, for the first time in several years, 2007 saw no [zero] final reactor shutdowns as reported both by the UIC and the IAEA's PRIS database. 2006 had five final closures, there were two in 2005 and another two in 2004.

But we can do better and many would argue that we must.