The New Nuclear Watch Institute just released this report, which focuses on the issue of energy security and the important contributions that nuclear power can make towards maintaining and strengthening it as energy systems decarbonize, both along the various transition pathways that energy systems have started upon and at their eventual low-carbon endpoint. It begins with an overview of how thinking about energy security has evolved over the last century, before analyzing how current trends in the electricity sector may affect security up to 2030 and the ways in which the characteristics of different sources of power determine their security value in responding to those trends. Finally, the report presents an explanation of the potential energy security risks that lie along the nuclear supply chain, assesses their relative strength, and suggests ways in which they can be managed.
Energy security is often the overlooked and underappreciated component of the energy trilemma, the term used to describe the balancing act required when attempting to secure universal access to energy, deliver on the urgent need to tackle climate change, and protect and enhance the security of energy supplies. The central aim of COP26, the focal point of energy decision making in 2021, is to secure more stringent emission reduction plans from signatories to the Paris Agreement.
Meanwhile, the importance of ensuring energy access for all has been enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, with SDG7 targeting “universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services” by 2030, contributing in part to a concrete improvement in global electricity access, which reached 90% in 2019. However, the importance of energy security in the success of the two other parts of the energy trilemma
cannot be understated. In fact, the preservation of energy security and the management and mitigation of energy security risks stands as a necessary condition to balancing it.
Expanding the provision of energy and electricity to the nearly eight billion inhabitants of the world cannot succeed unless supplies sufficient to meet demand and energy systems resilient to both failure and disruption are coherently designed and operated. Equally, the increasing reliance of a variety of modern systems on the continuous supply of energy, whether it be the healthcare, transport, or financial system, implies that the decarbonization transition, in particular its implications for the energy and electricity generation mix, may be compromised if the security of energy is not preserved in the decades to come.
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