NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY REVIEW 2018 Cover photo credits: Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH; IAEA; Rosenergoatom. Nuclear Technology Review 2018 GC(62)/INF/2 1 Printed by the IAEA in Austria August 2018 IAEA/NTR/2018 Foreword In response to requests by Member States, the Secretariat produces a comprehensive Nuclear Technology Review each year. The Nuclear Technology Review 2018 covers the following select areas: power applications, advanced fission and fusion, accelerator and research reactor applications, nuclear techniques in food, soil and livestock management, with reference to emergency response, new developments in radiotherapy and neuropsychiatry, plastic pollution in oceans and radiopharmaceuticals. The draft version was submitted to the March 2018 session of the Board of Governors in document GOV/2018/2. This final version was prepared in light of the discussions held during the Board of Governors and also of the comments received by Member States. 1 Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................ 1 Main Report ............................................................................................................................................. 5 A. Power Applications ......................................................................................................................... 5 A.1. Nuclear Power Today .................................................................................................................. 5 A.1.1. Newcomers ........................................................................................................................... 7 A.1.2. Expanding Countries ............................................................................................................ 7 A.1.3. Operating Countries .............................................................................................................. 8 A.2. The Projected Growth of Nuclear Power .................................................................................... 9 A.3. Fuel Cycle .................................................................................................................................. 10 A.3.1. Front End ............................................................................................................................ 10 A.3.2. Assurance of Supply ........................................................................................................... 13 A.3.3. Back End ............................................................................................................................ 13 A.3.4. Decommissioning, Environmental Remediation and Radioactive Waste Management .... 14 B. Advanced Fission and Fusion ........................................................................................................ 18 B.1. Advanced Fission ....................................................................................................................... 18 B.1.1. Water Cooled Reactors ....................................................................................................... 18 B.1.2. Fast Neutron Systems ......................................................................................................... 19 B.1.3. Gas Cooled Reactors ........................................................................................................... 20 B.1.4. Small and Medium Sized or Modular Reactors .................................................................. 20 B.1.5. International Initiatives on Innovative Nuclear Energy Systems........................................ 22 B.1.6. Non-electric Applications of Nuclear Power ...................................................................... 23 B.2. Fusion ........................................................................................................................................ 24 C. Accelerator and Research Reactor Applications ........................................................................... 25 C.1. Accelerators ............................................................................................................................... 25 C.2. Research Reactors ...................................................................................................................... 26 D. Food and Agriculture ..................................................................................................................... 29 D.1. Nuclear Emergency Preparedness in Food and Agriculture ...................................................... 29 D.1.1. Challenges in nuclear emergency response ........................................................................ 29 D.1.2. New developments in decision support systems for emergency response ......................... 29 D.1.3. DSS4NAFA ........................................................................................................................ 29 D.2. Use of irradiation to develop novel and effective vaccines against animal and zoonotic diseases ........................................................................................................................................................... 31 D.3. Multi-isotope Fingerprints to Identify Sources of Agro-contaminants from Soil to Water Bodies ................................................................................................................................................ 34 E. Human Health ................................................................................................................................... 36 i E.1. Stereotactic Radiotherapy: A High-precision Radiotherapy Technique .................................... 36 E.1.1. Technical requirements ....................................................................................................... 37 E.1.2. Team required ..................................................................................................................... 37 E.1.3. Indications ........................................................................................................................... 38 E.1.4. Contributions of the Agency ............................................................................................... 38 E.2. Neuropsychiatry: Revolution of Molecular Imaging in Alzheimer’s Disease ........................... 38 E.2.1. Background ......................................................................................................................... 38 E.2.2. Diagnosis ............................................................................................................................ 39 E.2.3. Global initiatives and awareness ......................................................................................... 40 F. Environment ...................................................................................................................................... 41 F.1. Nuclear Techniques in Marine Plastics Research ...................................................................... 41 G. Radioisotope Production and Radiation Technologies ..................................................................... 44 G.1. Alpha Therapy: New Therapeutic Applications of Radiopharmaceuticals Containing Alpha Emitters ............................................................................................................................................. 44 G.1.1. Radium-223 ........................................................................................................................ 45 G.1.2. Actinium-225/Bismuth-213 generator ................................................................................ 45 G.1.3. Actinium-225 ...................................................................................................................... 46 G.1.4. Astatine-211 ....................................................................................................................... 46 Page 1 Executive Summary 1. At the end of 2017, the 448 operating nuclear power reactors had a global generating capacity of 392 GW(e), which was an increase of about 1.2 GW(e) since 2016. In 2017, five reactors were permanently shut down, four were connected to the grid, and construction started on four. Near and long term growth prospects remained centred on Asia, which is home to 40 of the 59 reactors under construction, as well as 51 of the 59 reactors that were connected to the grid since 2005. 2. Thirty countries currently use nuclear power and 28 are considering, planning or actively working to include it in their energy mix. Three newcomer countries are building their first nuclear power plants (NPPs) and several others that have decided to introduce nuclear power are at advanced stages of infrastructure preparation. The Agency’s 2017 high projections for global nuclear power capacity show a 42% increase over current levels by 2030 and a doubling of capacity by 2050, while in the low projections, capacity will gradually decline until 2040, rebounding to today’s levels by 2050. 3. The advantages of nuclear power in terms of climate change mitigation, energy security, environmental and socio-economic policies are key reasons why many countries intend to introduce nuclear power or expand existing programmes. The Agency’s International Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Power in the 21st Century, held in Abu Dhabi, stressed that substantial nuclear power growth