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Diverse Groups Recognize Nuclear Energy’s Climate-Friendly Benefits
Given the dual challenges of meeting growing electricity supply and preventing and mitigating greenhouse gases, policymakers and energy industry leaders are evaluating an expanded role for nuclear energy.

U.S. policymakers are weighing different legislative and other approaches for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. While many predict that meaningful climate change policy may take several years to finalize, the role that nuclear energy can play in carbon reduction programs is clear.

Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) in a February report, “Crossing the Divide: The Future of Clean Energy,” said that carbon policies could fundamentally change the competitive landscape of the global energy business. Conventional emission-free technologies—nuclear energy and hydropower—will account for most of the clean energy impact globally and almost half of the gross clean power additions by 2030, CERA reported in its analysis.

Carbon mitigation strategies from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Princeton University, Columbia University’s Earth Institute, Harvard University and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change identify a clear role for nuclear energy in a portfolio of options to reduce greenhouse gases.

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in its Fourth Assessment Report issued in 2007, concluded that lowering emissions would require greater emphasis on renewables and nuclear energy. The IPCC report said that a broad mix of energy sources, including nuclear energy, “will almost certainly be required to meet the growing demand for energy services, particularly in many developing countries.”

A U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change study called for an additional investment of $25 billion in nuclear energy by 2030. The U.N.’s findings are consistent with the World Economic Forum’s 2008 analysis on energy, which stated that nuclear energy is “probably the best option for carbon-neutral energy from the perspective of currently available and easily scalable technologies.” However, the forum noted ongoing concerns about safety, used fuel management and nonproliferation.

Furthermore, Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, said “low-emission electricity generation will be achieved in part through niche sources such as wind and bio-fuels. Larger-scale solutions will come from nuclear and solar power.”

Nuclear energy also is part of the strategy for combating climate change in an energy security plan released by the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank. The center recommends that the United States establish a “renewable portfolio standard” mandating that 10 to 25 percent of electricity be produced from renewable resources and nuclear energy by 2025.

Nuclear Energy Benefits Recognized In Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
Ten northeastern and mid-Atlantic states have formed the first regional cap-and-trade program for carbon dioxide, known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The program treats all clean-air sources of electricity, such as nuclear power and renewables, equally in the greenhouse gas reduction framework. Nuclear plants generate about one-third of the region’s electricity.

Six western states formed a similar initiative, and California passed legislation in 2006 to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 25 percent by 2020. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in March that nuclear energy must be part of the state’s path toward reducing carbon emissions while maintaining economic strength. Nuclear energy “has a great future,” Schwarzenegger said, and it could be “very beneficial, like in France where they get [75] percent of their energy through nuclear power.”

In the absence of federal legislation or regulation, state and regional action presents a valuable opportunity for climate change and energy policy development. However, these early innovations must be forged into unified federal policy that provides the predictability needed by the industry to transform our energy systems in a manner that protects our environment.

Globally, more than 400 reactors generate 17 percent of all electricity. Construction is under way on 29 reactors, and many countries have announced plans to build more than 200 reactors in the next 30 years.

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