Nuclear Power is Key to Climate Change Effort

Climate Change, Anthropocene, & Associated Issues

Date posted: 01/20/16

William H. Miller, of the Columbia Daily Tribune, asks what is the best way to combat climate change? He opines that James Hansen, one of America leading atmospheric scientists, who, in the late 1980s, was the first to tell Congress about the danger of global warming, says it is nuclear power. Because it accounts for more than 60% of America carbon-free electricity and is available around the clock, nuclear power is an obvious answer, one we have known for some time now. But it is nice to hear it come from a highly regarded climatologist like Hansen. With five new nuclear plants under construction in the U.S. and a new generation of small modular reactors on the horizon, nuclear power is positioned to play a central role in the effort to achieve a low-carbon energy future despite a small but vocal opposition. During the Paris climate talks late last year, Hansen, longtime head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, joined with three other prominent climatologists to say that nuclear power paves the only viable path forward on climate change. In a joint statement, Hansen and the other climatologists said the voluntary measures in the Paris accord on climate change are a welcome step but far from sufficient .. The climate issue is too important for us to delude ourselves with wishful thinking. Throwing tools such as nuclear power out of the box constrains humanity of options and makes climate mitigation more likely to fail. In fact, the climatologists said that nuclear will make the difference between the world missing crucial climate targets or achieving them. In a previous separate study, Hansen, who has solid environmental credentials, estimated that nuclear power has saved 1.84 million lives worldwide by reducing air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels and will save many more lives in the years ahead .... as coal and then natural gas are no longer needed.