Against a background of ever-increasing dependence on primary energy sources, rising oil and gas prices and the obligation to reduce greenhouse gases, the role of nuclear energy in electricity production is attracting renewed attention. On the other hand, there are still long-standing concerns over the safety of nuclear energy and the disposal of nuclear waste from power plants. Some EU Member States have recently started building or planning new nuclear power plants. In the EU, nuclear power plants account for 30% of total gross electricity output.
In European nuclear power plants, the following types of reactor are mostly used:
PWR Pressurized Water Reactor
GCR Gas Cooled Reactord Reactor
BWR Boiling Water Reactor
PHWR Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor
Definition: Load factor
Load Factor, also called «Capacity Factor», is the ratio of the energy which the power reactor unit has produced over a given period divided by the energy it would have produced at its reference power capacity over that period.