A new industry worth several hundred billion dollars is emerging as many nuclear power plants around the world near the end of their life cycle, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.
But the agency warned that the development of a skilled workforce with competencies specifically aligned with the unique requirements of nuclear decommissioning is a prerequisite for growth of the industry.
The Vienna-based UN body predicts that “several hundred billion dollars” will be spent on decommissioning in the next 25 years.
About half of the world’s 420 active nuclear power reactors will reach the of their planned productive cycles and be scheduled for decommissioning by 2050.