The nuclear renaissance is stone cold dead

Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland plan to phase out their existing nuclear power programs. Russia and China have reduced their projections for nuclear power growth. Public opposition forced the cancellation this year of a planned nuclear fuel processing plant in China and a planned power reactor near Kaliningrad in Russia − the first time in both countries that public opposition has stopped nuclear projects.

Canada has abandoned plans for new reactors. The French President has pledged to reduce reliance on nuclear power from 75% to 50% of total electricity generation (though it may turn out to be a broken promise). The government of Brazil, the world's fifth most populous country, recently announced that apart from one reactor already under construction, plans for new reactors have been put on hold indefinitely. The head of Brazil's energy planning agency, Mauricio Tolmasquim, said: "This is wind power's moment. There's been a revolution in terms of cost."

South Africa − the only country in Africa with power reactors − abandoned plans for new reactors in 2008, revived them, then abandoned them again earlier this month. In the Middle East, only Iran has a nuclear power reactor, while Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Saudi Arabia are pursuing nuclear power programs with greater or lesser intent. But a swag of countries in the Middle East and North Africa have put nuclear power on the back-burner, including Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Israel, Morocco, Algeria and Libya.

And on it goes. No reactors are operating in Japan − some will restart in the coming years but plans to add another 25 or so reactors to Japan's fleet of 55 reactors are dead and buried. Plans for a new nuclear power plant in Taiwan motivated 200,000 people to participate in protests in March, led to a physical brawl in Parliament in August, and both major parties are promising an eventual phase-out of nuclear power.

Any number of other countries have decided since the Fukushima disaster not to engage or re-engage in nuclear programs, including Singapore, Greece, Italy, Peru, Portugal, Thailand, Venezuela, and many others.

The nuclear renaissance is dead ... stone cold dead. And the prospects for nuclear power in Australia are dead. If nuclear power is economically prohibitive (or nearly so) in nuclear nations such as the UK and the US, it is far more so in Australia given that we have little relevant infrastructure or expertise. The major parties seem to be well aware that nuclear power is a non-starter, so the nuclear debate in Australia is reduced to the slow, repetitive drum-beat of a small but vocal nuclear lobby.

Australia's uranium mining and export industry is also in a world of trouble. Uranium accounted for a lousy 0.19% of Australia's national export revenue in 2011/12. The spot price for uranium has halved since the Fukushima disaster in March 2011. As John Borshoff, head of Australian-based uranium miner Paladin Energy, noted this year, "the uranium industry is definitely in crisis".

Dr Jim Green is the national nuclear campaigner with Friends of the Earth, Australia.