IAEA sees China and India leading nuclear energy growth

The U.N. atomic agency still expects significant growth in the global use of nuclear power over the next two decades after  Japan's Fukushima accident.

The number of operating reactors in the world is expected to increase by between 90 and 350 units by 2030, Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a speech.

"This represents continuous and significant growth in the use of nuclear power, but at a slower growth rate than in our previous projections," Amano told the IAEA's 35-nation board in Vienna.

"Most of the growth is still expected to occur in countries that already have operating nuclear power plants, especially in Asia," he said. "China and India will remain the main centers of expansion."

Increasing global demand for energy, climate change fears and dwindling oil and gas reserves were among factors behind growing interest in nuclear power before Fukushima and they had not changed because of the accident, Amano said.

  and see approach," Amano said.

Reuters.