The nuclear dilemma

An interesting TED debate saw two experts take up cudgels for and against nuclear energy. The audience that began loaded on the 'for' side saw some converts at the end!

Of course, the main premise for nuclear was the reductions in greenhouse emissions as against fossil fuels. The other one, rather ridiculous, was that nuclear energy development was one way of checking nuclear arms proliferation! And in the case aaginst nuclear, Jacobson of Standford chose to pick on the considerable carbon footprint of a nuclear plant through its life cycle, the long gestation time as also the waste problem. As a member of the audience pointed, transportation of nuclear fuel would constitute a security issue.

But now, the IEA has it that greenhouse gas emissions could be slashed by tripling the capacity of nuclear power over the next 40 years. The Nuclear Energy Technology Roadmap, which has been drawn up together with the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), sets an “ambitious but achievable” target of generating nearly a quarter of the world’s electricity using nuclear power by 2050.

“Nuclear energy is one of the key low-carbon energy technologies that can contribute, alongside energy efficiency, renewable energies and carbon capture and storage, to the decarbonisation of electricity supply by 2050,” said IEA executive director Nobuo Tanaka, speaking from the East Asia Climate Forum in Seoul.

The technology is a mature one, says the report, but the new reactor designs being constructed now will have to be established as reliable and competitive before being substantially expanded after 2020.

For such as expansion to take place, governments around the world will have to make a clear and long-term commitment to nuclear power and encourage public acceptance.
While new technological breakthroughs are not required to support a major expansion effort, says the IEA, progress on the disposal of high-level radioactive waste will be essential.

Funding will be one of the major hurdles to expansion, warns the report, and could require government-backed supporting mechanisms such as loan guarantees. Governments will also need to invest in developing and training the necessary workforce to build, operate and maintain a new generation of nuclear power stations.

The security issue still remains, in an increasingly polarised world. So what's your vote?