Environment & Energy

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Tackling the climate crisis requires policies based on facts, not prejudice. Wind and solar power help with early decarbonization, where they can replace fossil fuels without need for large storage and transmission upgrades. However, systems overly dependent on intermittent, low-energy-density renewables — as California and Germany have proven — lead to skyrocketing electric rates, grid instability, and continued dependence on fossil fuels. Cost-optimized energy modeling reveals that nuclear power must ramp up for emissions to approach zero. In fact, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change finds that nuclear generation in 2050 grows by two to six times 2010 levels for all four illustrative pathways consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5°C. Today’s policies need to reflect this awareness and initiate multi-decadal plans to achieve reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy systems.

Significantly, many governments are beginning to understand that nuclear power is part of the answer. France, which decarbonized its grid with nuclear years ago, has announced support for a new generation of reactors. So have the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Canada. In our country, several states have taken steps to preserve their existing plants, while others like Wyoming are developing passively safe advanced nuclear technology for the future. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle are on board, too. Highlighting federal enthusiasm, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm recently said, “We are very bullish on advanced nuclear reactors. ... Nuclear is dispatchable, clean baseload power, so we want to be able to bring more on.”

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A second example of following the science is also informative. Although a rising carbon fee is the underlying requirement to phase out carbon emissions, it is not sufficient. Governments also must assure that adequate carbon-free technology is available. Yet, rather than supporting competition among alternative energies, most governments chose to support innovation and development only of “renewable” energies, a political “solution” that serves to hamstring future generations by slowing the transition away from fossil fuels. Buried deep in IPCC reports is information that nuclear power has the smallest environmental footprint of major energy sources, but politics caused a failure to develop modern nuclear power (Sidebar 10). It takes time to drive down the costs of new technology – as demonstrated by solar and wind power – but there is still, if barely, time for additional nuclear power to be brought on-line to provide the firm (available 24/7) energy needed to complement renewables, including the ability to provide high-temperature energy required by heavy industry. It may be just in time to help us avoid passing the Point of No Return.

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