Explainer

Long-Unloved Nuclear Power Is Staging a Comeback

The water pool and reactor vessel at the Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor in Flamanville, France.Source: Bloomberg

Nuclear power has long been on the decline, its share of the world’s electricity generation halving from 18% in the mid-1990s to 9% today. Now there are signs of a revival.

While China, India and Russia never stopped expanding their nuclear industries, many Western countries moved the other way due to the technology’s heavy construction costs and an abundance of cheaper alternatives.