Bobby Magill reports that Experts suggest that without nuclear power the world has little chance of restraining global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius. With fossil fuels growing to produce electricity across the globe, the IEA sees nuclear power as a stable source of low-carbon power helping to take polluting coal-fired plants offline.
Since the 2011 Daiichi nuclear accident caused by the Fukushima tsunami in Japan chilled global attitudes toward nuclear power, the world has been slowly reconciling its discomfort with nuclear and the idea that it may have a role to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to tackle climate change, as well as keeping costs to produce electricity down.
The International Energy Agency and the Nuclear Energy Agency suggest in a report released Thursday that nuclear will have such a significant role to play in climate strategy that nuclear power generation capacity will have to double by 2050 in order for the world to meet the international 2 degrees C - or 3.6 degrees F - warming goal.
With fossil fuel - coal and natural gas - growing as sources of electricity across the globe, the IEA sees nuclear power as a stable source of low-carbon power to take polluting coal-fired plants offline.
To accomplish the needed CO2 emissions cuts to keep warming no greater than 2 degrees C, the IEA says global nuclear power generation capacity needs to increase to 930 gigawatts from 396 gigawatts by 2050. With nearly 100 nuclear reactors, the U.S. has more nuclear power plants than any other country, representing 105 gigawatts of production. France, Japan, Russia and China round out the top five countries using nuclear power.
Globally, nuclear energy is already making a comeback with 72 nuclear reactors now under construction worldwide, mainly in Asia.
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