Emissions nuclear power

If a hue monetary value were established for carbon emissions, nuclear power could be the major beneficiary of an emissions credit trading market. Nuclear power advocates - and environmental advocates - need to play an active role in setting the regulatory framework that will advance our environmental interests. 

The World Bank grants financing for fossil fuel electricity generation, yet finances only facilities that have advanced emission control equipment. And although the World Bank has never financed a nuclear power plant, a zero carbon emitter, it is vciy active in evaluating hydropower projects, helping to establish the World Commission on Large Dams. 

Mysteries such as this attract young people to science. Nuclear physics, however, tends to turn people off Nuclear power plant malfunctions and atomic bombs are frightening. Nevertheless, humankind has greatly benefited from scientific investigations of the nucleus. Science s hard-won knowledge of the atomic nucleus is used extensively in medicine, from imaging procedures such as positron emission tomography (PET) to radiation therapy, which has saved the lives of many cancer patients. 

Even in the absence of formal binding international implementation mechanisms for the Kyoto accord, we are seeing many businesses begin to factor greenhouse gas emission considerations into their business plans. It has simply become a good business decision and it serves customer demand. This is a profoundly important development, and nuclear power is uniquely positioned to play in this game. 

As I mentioned earlier, the climate change debate - and more broadly the debate about emissions constraints on energy production and use - is also a critical one for the future of nuclear power in the U.S. 

Most of the avoided C02 emissions over the last 20 years have come from nuclear power. In the United States on an annual basis, nuclear power avoids greenhouse gases equivalent to burning 50,000 railroad cars full of coal. 

The use of coal for electricity generation is responsible for about 32% of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions in the U S. 11 As shown by France, it is possible to displace virtually all the coal used in electricity generation. Thus, France in 1997 obtained about 78% of its electricity from nuclear power and only about 5% from coal. Further reductions in carbon dioxide emissions could be made by the electrification of other sectors of the energy economy, including buildings, and eventually perhaps much of transportation. 

Turning to the other major areas, the picture is clearer, at least in terms of the direchon of the impact. Nuclear power can help to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and thereby lessen the severity of predicted climate changes. It can also help ease the difficulties that will arise from the conflict between the shrinking of fossil fuel supplies and the rising material aspirations of a growing world population. 

At the state level, there is growing awareness of the essential role of nuclear power in meeting Clean Air Act requirements, and the continued importance of emission free nuclear energy in the future. Just ask the state of Georgia, which is concerned about the... 

Clean options include nuclear power to produce hydrogen with no emissions. But expanding nuclear power means overcoming safety, waste disposal and security concerns. 

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