Nuclear power | The energy transition has been decided

The former Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant is currently being dismantled. Photo: dpa/Daniel Vogl If you subject the hype about an alleged renaissance of nuclear power to a reality check, a clear picture emerges: Despite a slight increase in nuclear electricity production, the global share of nuclear power has slipped to a 45-year low of 8.8 percent. This clearly shows that nuclear power cannot keep pace with the rapid growth of global electricity demand and the growth of renewable energies.

The current status report also shows: Nuclear power in 2026 is essentially a Chinese-Russian state project. No wonder, because new buildings can hardly be financed privately due to skyrocketing costs and decades-long delays. Anyone who relies on nuclear power today is entering into an expensive cost trap and becoming technologically and financially dependent on these two states.

It is also clear that the primary drivers against nuclear power are no longer safety concerns and the unsolved nuclear waste problem, but rather economic findings. While the cost of solar energy has fallen by more than 80 percent in the last 15 years, that of nuclear power has increased by around 75 percent over the same period. The fact that solar power has surpassed nuclear power for the first time is not just a flash in the pan, but rather marks a turning point. Renewable energies are quicker to build, cheaper to operate and are now increasingly stabilizing the grid thanks to large batteries.

The current data shows that the global energy transition has long been decided. The expansion of nuclear power is too slow and too expensive on a global scale to be able to play a major role in rapid climate protection. Outside China, it is a niche technology and the supposed renaissance is little more than an extension of the service life of aging reactor fleets. 

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