Calls for more investment in nuclear power

Amid increasing fears about climate change and rising global temperatures, officials said better investment in nuclear power could help resolve many problems.

Part of the Barakah nuclear power plant which is under construction near Al Hamra, west of Abu Dhabi. Arun Girija / AFP

MOSCOW // More investment in nuclear power is needed to fill the gap in renewable energy and offset emissions from fossil fuels, a summit in Moscow has heard.

Amid increasing fears about climate change, officials said only better investment in nuclear could help to resolve many of the problems the world faced.

“Solar and wind aren’t enough to guarantee energy supplies around the world,” Alexey Likhachev, general director of Russia’s Rosatom State Corporation, told AtomExpo.

“Today we face two problems, namely energy access or energy poverty, with more than 1.2 billion people in the world having difficulty in accessing electricity.

“The second problem is environmental as the figures we hear are not optimistic.”

Industry leaders and nuclear officials are among 6,500 delegates meeting to discuss the state of the sector and opportunities to address climate change.

The debate comes amid efforts to cut emissions and reliance on fossil fuels, as developing nations such as the UAE invest in nuclear, but developed states such as Germany scale back.

William Magwood, head of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s nuclear agency, said if the world was serious about climate change it would consider more nuclear power.

“Among the difficult problems we’re working on is what happens to nuclear energy in the longer term future,” Mr Magwood said.

“What nuclear power in the long-term future depends on is a few key issues, including whether we are serious about climate change.”

With a population expected to grow from 7.6 billion to almost 10 billion by 2050, the world will need to double its electricity generation to reach the average European level of use for every person in the world.

“Analysis shows that, without nuclear power, solving the issue of carbon-dioxide emissions reduction becomes extremely difficult,” Mr Magwood said.

By 2050 carbon emissions will need to be reduced by 80 per cent, which Mr Magwood said was almost inconceivable.

“There is analysis that tells us that there is a very important role for base-load power plants and we need to have 40 or 60 per cent base-load power,” he said. “The most renewables you can put on the grid is about 40 per cent before the grid becomes unstable.

“If that’s the case and base-load power plants are needed and if we are to take climate change seriously, then there’s no other way than to build nuclear power plants.”

The Energy Information Administration projected that about 500 new nuclear power plants would need to be built before 2050 to meet the requirements set out at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or Cop 21, in Paris.

There are 449 commercial nuclear power reactors in operation. The UAE is preparing to add another four by 2020.

“Nuclear power continues to be a major player in the global energy portfolio,” said Hamad Alkaabi, UAE ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“Ten new reactors were connected to the grid last year and 392 gigawatts is being generated by nuclear power globally which is a significant portion.”

“The Paris agreement calls to limit the increase in the global average temperature. To meet this goal, an increased role in the use of nuclear power is needed in the longer term.”

With 61 new reactors under construction around the world today, countries will need to act fast.

“Climate change and energy security are major priorities for UAE energy policy,” he said. “The UAE has set a target of increasing clean energy contribution to the total energy mix from 0.2 per cent in 2014 to more than 27 per cent by 2021.”