Seeker Blog

This is a followup to the post Comparing Hydrogen and Electricity for Transmission, Storage, and Transportation on the ILEA study.

Notably absent from the intense press coverage of climate change is any useful discussion of practical policy options - particularly the nuclear option.

The captioned 2003 MIT interdisciplinary study is the best objective analysis, that I have found so far, which examines all the issues related to nuclear power, from cost to waste to fuel cycle risks. With recommendations on policy actions.

From the Executive Summary:

The generation of electricity from fossil fuels, notably natural gas and coal,is a major and growing contributor to the emission of carbon dioxide – a greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to global warming. We share the scientific consensus that these emissions must be reduced and believe that the U.S. will eventually join with other nations in the effort to do so. At least for the next few decades, there are only a few realistic options for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation:

- increase efficiency in electricity generation and use;

- expand use of renewable energy sources such as wind,solar,biomass,and geothermal;

- capture carbon dioxide emissions at fossil-fueled (especially coal) electric generating plants and permanently sequester the carbon;

- and increase use of nuclear power.

The goal of this interdisciplinary MIT study is not to predict which of these options will prevail or to argue for their comparative advantages.In our view, it is likely that we shall need all of these options and accordingly it would be a mistake at this time to exclude any of these four options from an overall carbon emissions management strategy. Rather we seek to explore and evaluate actions that could be taken to maintain nuclear power as one of the significant options for meeting future world energy needs at low cost and in an environmentally acceptable manner.

And from the full report, the table of contents:

Chapter 1 The Future of Nuclear Power - Overview and Conclusions 1
Chapter 2 Background and Purpose of the Study 17
Chapter 3 Outline of the Study 25
Chapter 4 Fuel Cycles 29
Chapter 5 Nuclear Power Economics 37
Chapter 6 Safety 47
Chapter 7 Spent Fuel/High-Level Waste Management 53
Chapter 8 Nonproliferation 65
Chapter 9 Public Attitudes and Public Understanding 71
Chapter 10 Recommended Measures to Resolve Uncertainty About the Economics of Nuclear Power 77
Chapter 11 Recommendations Bearing on Safety,Waste Management, and Proliferation 85
Chapter 12 Recommended Analysis,Research,Development and Demonstration Program 91