Prof. Chakravorty, Department of Economics, Emory University, Atlanta, Bertrand Magné of the University of Toulouse (LERNA), Toulous, and Michel Moreaux of the University of Toulouse (IUF, IDEI and LERNA), Toulouse reported in the early 2000s that the Kyoto Protocol was a legally binding treaty signed by 141 nations, although not by major polluting nations such as the United States, China and India. Can nuclear power, which is carbon free, save Kyoto and solve the global warming problem?
Nuclear energy is a tough sell in the developed countries, but developing countries continue to rely heavily on it. Many new nuclear power plants are under construction. We develop an empirical Hotelling model that accounts for the limited stock of uranium [Fact Check: there are sufficient uranium reserves to last 100 years !!!], future efficiency improvements in nuclear technology and recycling of nuclear waste. The model shows that currently known stocks of uranium may be exhausted in a few decades [Fact Check: A repeated assumption that is false]. But advanced nuclear reactors can provide clean energy for a long time. However, the role of nuclear power may be much diminished even with modest technological change in fossil fuels and solar energy. [NOTE: There appears to be a hidden agenda underlying this paper].
[NOTE: After reviewing this paper, we can clearly see the authors' bias against nuclear power in their use of the mantras used by anti-nuclear aversarsaries in 2005, although in this case, the bias is surrounded by academic obfuscation and misrepresentations. The principal underlying assumption is that uranium reserves are inadequate - now known to be false - and hence their total argument fails. Other assumptions that although nuclear power has positives, and that 1) the negatives outweigh its continued use, although with most of the authors' premises false, there remain more positives than negatives, and 2) health and safety issues - now known to be minimal, even after Three-Mile and Fukushima, but Chernobyl had "cold war" causes and should not be included in these discussions (although remains a future management issue).
Their agenda, other than attacking nuclear power, was not revealed in the paper. Any follow-up papers by these author will likely shed more light on their agenda]
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