Nuclear power 'set to expand'

In a new report, experts predict innovations such as reactors with replaceable parts, portable mini-reactors, and ships that can supply nuclear generated electricity anywhere it is needed.

The scientists from Imperial College London and Cambridge University envisage a two-stage "road map" for nuclear power expansion.

First, countries with a nuclear infrastructure would replace or extend the lives of their existing nuclear power plants.

This would be followed by a phase in which new technologies fill the energy gap as old nuclear, gas and coal-fired plants around the world are decommissioned.

The report, Generating the Option of a Two-Stage Nuclear Renaissance, is published in the journal Science.