By Richard Anderson Business reporter, BBC News
The Flamanville plant is the first new nuclear plant to be built in France for 15 years
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Those living in Western Europe could be forgiven for thinking nuclear power is a spent force.
Overwhelming public opposition has forced Italy to abandon any plans for reigniting its nuclear industry, while Germany is pressing ahead with its long-held policy of phasing out all reactors by 2022.
Belgium is following its neighbour’s lead, while Spain has no plans to add to its fleet of seven plants. Even France, the poster child for nuclear power, has announced plans to reduce drastically its dependency on atomic energy.
Add the fact that four years after the Fukushima disaster none of Japan’s 48 reactors are back online, and that nuclear’s share of global electricity generation has fallen from 17% to 11% in the past 20 years, and you might assume the industry is in terminal decline.
You would be wrong. Quite wrong.
New nuclear In fact, according to Dr Jonathan Cobb at the World Nuclear Association (WNA), there are 70 nuclear reactors under construction, “the highest number in 25 years”
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