Robert Bryce opines that if you are concerned about climate change, then you should take note of this. Over the last 8 months, utilities from NY to Nebraska have announced plans to shutter six nuclear reactors by 2019. These closures will come on the heels of earlier ones, 5 reactors have been shuttered in the last 3 years alone. The latest closure announcement came earlier this month when Exelon Corp., the largest nuclear-energy producer, said it would close 3 reactors at two sites in Illinois by 2018.
The 6 targeted reactors have been safely producing about 40 terawatt-hours of zero-carbon-emissions electricity per year. These reactor outputs exceed the amount of zero-carbon electricity produced annually by every solar energy installation in the nation. Last year, American solar output totaled 38.6 terawatt-hours. Even with solar installations growing at a rapid rate, we will not add enough solar capacity anytime soon to make up for the clean nuclear energy we are about to lose.
Wind power will not fill the gap, either. Based on calculations done by the Breakthrough Institute, wind energy requires about 500 times more land than nuclear. To replace the 6 reactors slated for closure, we would need to cover about 1,400 square miles of land with rows and rows of 500-foot-high turbines. That is a land area larger than Rhode Island. Such energy sprawl has resulted in a backlash in numerous states, including Maine, Vermont and New York, where proposed wind projects are being opposed by local governments and environmental groups.
All told, the U.S. now produces about 20 times as much zero-carbon electricity from nuclear sources as it does from solar, and 4 times as much as it does from wind. Along with hydropower (which produces more zero-carbon electricity than wind and solar combined), nuclear energy is an essential part of our climate change efforts.
That is why climate scientists and increasing numbers of environmentalists are advocating for it.
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