Brazil plans to build 50 to 60 nuclear power plants in the next half-century, the nation’s top energy official said Friday, as a political crisis in Bolivia renewed doubts about the reliability of key natural gas supplies from the Andean country. Construction on some of the new plants may begin as early as April. —The end to India’s nuclear pariah status paves the way for atomic fuel and technology sales worth tens of billions of dollars and companies are racing to exploit the market, officials say. “India plans to increase this capacity to 30,000 to 60,000 megawatts over the next 20 years by acquiring fuel from Nuclear Suppliers Group countries for its civilian nuclear energy program - at a cost exceeding $100 billion,” he said.—Nuclear power generation capacity could double by 2030 to 748 GW(e), according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s latest annual report. Even the report’s more conservative estimates predict a 27% increase over current levels to 473 GW(e). Major expansion plans are underway in China and India, while there is renewed political support for nuclear power in the USA and UK.

The man in charge of the country’s nuclear regulatory agency says the United States needs a generation of new scientists, engineers and skilled workers to staff, build and monitor what could be dozens new power plants. The country is on the verge of a building boom for nuclear plants, but after almost three decades of inactivity, it’s just starting to train the workers it will need, according to Dale Klein, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Power companies have submitted applications to the NRC for 20 new reactors, and Klein expects about 10 more by the end of 2009.