The Current Situation and Perspectives on the Use of Wind Energy for Electricity Generation

Abstract

Nuclear energy was an assured energy source for electricity generation in the European region in 1960s. Between 1960s and 1990s, more than 190 nuclear power reactors were built in the European region, increasing the share of nuclear energy in the energy balance of several European countries. For this reason, nuclear energy was one of the energy sources that during this period contributed significantly to alleviate European energy supply dependency, and it is now an important factor in the reduction of local air pollution and global climate change. Two serious accidents, the first one at Three Mile Island in the USA in 1979 and the second one in 1986 in Chernobyl, Ukraine, the second one with serious consequences for many countries in the European region, stop public support to the use of nuclear energy for electricity generation and led to a scaling back of the nuclear industry in the European region. A third big nuclear accident at Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan in March 2011 increased further the opposition of the public opinion to the use of nuclear energy for the generation of electricity in several European countries. Some of these countries were forced to shut down the oldest nuclear power reactors in operation, to reduce the participation of nuclear power in their energy mix for the coming decades, to shut down all units, to cancel the construction of new nuclear power reactors or to prohibit the use of this type of energy sources for the generation of electricity in the future.