White House Gets Behind Nuclear Power To Fight Climate Change?

Climate Change, Anthropocene, & Associated Issues

Date posted: 11/12/15

Dr. Conca reports that the American Nuclear Society just wrapped up its annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Since the theme was how nuclear energy is essential to address climate change, it was exciting that the meeting kicked off with a Nuclear Summit at the White House on Friday that highlighted that issue. In most international climate talks over the last 25 years, the United States has downplayed the fact that most of our low-carbon electricity generation is from nuclear power. You never hear that in most media discussions. But now the White House is talking nuclear up....to some extent at least. Kirsten Cutler, the Obama administration assistant director for nuclear energy and nonproliferation, said that this Nuclear Summit provided valuable insights on why maintaining U.S. leadership in nuclear energy is important for supporting economic competitiveness and jobs creation, enhancing international nuclear safety, security standards and nonproliferation controls, and enabling the next generation of nuclear scientists, engineers, and technology developers to build the future of nuclear energy. Given that the global nuclear power industry is set to expend over $1.5 trillion in the next 20 years, it is certainly important that the U.S. maintains itself as a leader in this field. We have the largest, safest and the most effective nuclear program in the world. The meeting covered many topics, but the pressing issue of climate change was front and center. At the All Energy Forum, a panel discussed what the U.S. future energy mix should be in order to combat global warming (full disclosure, Dr. Conca was session chair). The way the U.S. has traditionally supplied energy is through fossil fuels, particularly coal, and that has put the planetary ecosystem at risk. Any serious plan to address global warming must include more nuclear as well as hydro and other renewables in order to displace the need for coal and oil. Natural gas cannot do this alone.