“There Is No Such Thing as a Zero or Near-Zero-Emission Nuclear Power Plant”

Business News/Analysis, Opinions, Policy

April 19, 2019

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by Emilliano Bellini (PV Magazine) Stanford professor Mark Z Jacobson has said new nuclear plants may cost up to 7.4 times more than wind and solar facilities, with construction times longer by up to 15 years. Such a delay, he said, may see an huge amount of extra carbon emissions from fossil fuel power sources. His verdict comes as China this month set new guaranteed tariffs for nuclear power.

Measuring carbon emissions from nuclear plants during operations does not take into account the horrendous carbon footprint caused during the lengthy waits for them to come online.

Claiming nuclear power plants emit zero or near-zero CO_² is a false assumption refuted by objective data, according to the Evaluation of Nuclear Power as a Proposed Solution to Global Warming, Air Pollution and Energy Security paper written by Stanford professor of civil and environmental engineering, Mark Zachary Jacobson.

In the study Jacobson – who is also director of the Californian university’s Atmosphere/Energy program – highlights the risk of overestimating nuclear’s ability to reduce global warming and air pollution, as well as its claims about ensuring energy security.

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“Overall, emissions from new nuclear are 78-178g [of] CO_²/kWh, not close to zero,” he wrote. “Even existing plants emit, due to the continuous mining and refining of uranium needed for the plant.”

The professor also highlighted the well-known risks associated with nuclear power such as weapons proliferation, reactor meltdown, radioactive waste, mining-related cancers and land despoilment.

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In the 2018 edition of the Nuclear Industry Status Report, Schneider revealed nuclear power capacity grew globally by only 1% in 2017 while solar and wind capacity rose 35% and 17%, respectively. The report also recognized solar and wind were the cheapest grid-connected sources of energy. Investments in new nuclear plants, on the other hand, were driven by public support and by nuclear weapon states, according to the paper. READ MORE

U.S. Nuclear Power Plants Weren’t Built for Climate Change (Bloomberg Business Week)

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