MIT Urges Measures to Grow Nuclear’s Vital Climate Solution Role

• Study: Decarbonizing economies will be more expensive without nuclear
• Recommends ways to make new nuclear build more cost-effective
• Policy and financial support for existing and new nuclear also needed

In a world that will increasingly need to make deep reductions in carbon emissions to mitigate the impacts of climate change, nuclear energy’s main value—its massive potential to decarbonize economies—must not be allowed to slip away, a new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology says. However, the high costs of bringing new nuclear capacity online must be addressed, MIT adds.

“MIT’s study highlights nuclear energy as a vital contributor in helping meet environmental goals across the globe, and MIT researchers are also explicit in linking the loss of existing nuclear power in the United States with increased costs for electricity consumers and setbacks for clean air targets,” NEI Vice President of Policy Development and Public Affairs John Kotek says.

“As our nation’s largest clean energy source, nuclear energy should continue to play a prominent role in any credible program to mitigate against carbon and air pollution.”

The coming century will see an increasing emphasis worldwide on drastic reductions in greenhouse gases while simultaneously expanding energy supplies to billions of people. One of the largest opportunities for carbon reductions is in the electricity sector. The MIT Energy Initiative’s Sept. 3 study, “The Future of Nuclear Energy in a Carbon-Constrained World,” finds that decarbonizing the power sector will be most economical if nuclear energy’s capacity for providing vast amounts of carbon-free electricity is brought to bear.

“Our analysis demonstrates that realizing nuclear energy’s potential is essential to achieving a deeply decarbonized energy future in many regions of the world,” says Jacopo Buongiorno, associate department head of MIT’s Nuclear Science and Engineering Department, and co-chair of the study.

NO NUCLEAR MEANS HIGHER COSTS FOR LOW-CARBON GOALS

As carbon limits increase, excluding low-carbon sources like nuclear noticeably increases system costs. [Chart adapted from MIT data]

However, nuclear energy’s main value—its potential contribution to reducing carbon emissions—is being undermined by the high and escalating costs of building new nuclear plants, especially in the United States and Western Europe, and by decarbonization policies that do not include all low carbon technologies. The study makes several recommendations on how to make nuclear more cost-effective including:

• Increase focus on proven project construction management practices, and shifting from largely field construction to more serial and modular manufacturing of standardized plants at factories or shipyards. There are examples of nuclear build projects, notably in China and the United Arab Emirates, that are being completed on schedule and at a reasonable cost. These recommendations are applicable to all reactor concepts and designs, including Generation III light water reactors (LWRs), small modular reactors (SMRs) and Generation IV non-LWR designs, MIT says.
• Shift toward reactor designs that incorporate inherent and passive safety features. The simplicity of these designs can ease licensing and accelerate their deployment. Some LWR-based SMRs (e.g. NuScale) and Generation IV designs are ready for commercial deployment, the study notes. 
• Encourage decarbonization policies at the federal and state levels—such as those in place in New York, Illinois and New Jersey—that create a level playing field for all low-carbon technologies to compete on their merits. “Policies that foreclose a role for nuclear energy … may raise the cost of decarbonization and slow progress toward climate change mitigation goals,” MIT notes. Both existing and new nuclear plants would benefit from a level playing field.
• Establish government-operated sites where private developers can test and operate prototype reactors in support of licensing. The role of government at such sites is to provide support such as safety and environmental protocols, fuel cycle services and testing capabilities. 
• Provide government support to develop and demonstrate new nuclear technologies through shared funding of regulatory licensing costs, research and development costs, achieving specific technical milestones, and for production credits to reward successful demonstration of new designs. 

“Incorporating new policy and business models, as well as innovations in construction that may make deployment of cost-effective nuclear power plants more affordable, could enable nuclear energy to help meet the growing global demand for energy generation while decreasing emissions to address climate change,” Buongiorno says.

The Nuclear Energy Institute is supportive of the study, noting that its findings are consistent with other reports such as the Electric Power Research Institute’s 2018 study on the expansion of nuclear under various carbon-restraint scenarios and public policies, and ETI’s report on the opportunity to reduce construction costs.

“The widespread innovation underway in the nuclear field will add new technology options that can reduce the cost of plant construction and operation while providing a broader range of energy products and services,” Kotek says.

“These technical advancements, coupled with reformed market policies and increased government support for advanced reactor development and deployment, can enable nuclear to play a prominent role in the global drive toward a cleaner energy future.”

MIT’s study is the eighth in an interdisciplinary series. The first in the series was the 2003 Future of Nuclear Power report, which was updated in 2009.