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I don't have the energy to really dig deeply into this but here are a few quick thoughts. (thread)
First, electrification of other carbon-emitting energy industries like transportation means that nuclear, like renewables, has the ability to provide power as we move to electric vehicles. Nuclear on cargo ships (HUGE source of emissions today) is another such possibility
Advanced nuclear has the potential to help with areas like district heating and industrial heating, a significant amount of which requires high temperatures that most renewables don't produce
In fact, a study by the National Renewable Energy Lab and Idaho National Lab nrel.gov/docs/fy17osti/… highlighted the fact that renewables and nuclear need to work together to reduce carbon emissions in the industrial sector
Nuclear waste. It's true that the US has been stuck on this issue for decades, and that's an issue. But current interim storage of commercial nuclear waste is incredibly safe and there are several examples around the world of how this is far, far from an insurmountable challenge
Renewables are going to be the backbone of a future low-carbon energy economy. But there is absolutely a key role to play for firm low-carbon energy sources like nuclear, as shown in work by @JesseJenkins and others here scopus.com/record/display… and here sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
In developing countries that need LOTS of power, GW-scale nuclear still presents an attractive option. Many of those countries are going to buy their reactors from China and Russia, not the US 🙃, but that's beside the point right now
In other places like the US, it's true that there isn't much of a need to build more of the current GW-scale light water reactors. But small modular reactors and advanced reactors have other attractive features that can absolutely integrate into the energy economy of the future
When current nuclear plants close, they're overwhelmingly replaced with natural gas (on rare-and-getting-rarer occasions, coal). Even if they're replaced with only renewables, that's still one step back and one step forward in lowering emissions-- we didn't go anywhere
tl;dr nuclear is not the ONLY solution but we have a big effin task ahead of us & it's easier if nuclear is PART of the solution. We need an "all of the above" mentality and not a wind and solar vs nuclear vs CCS vs vs mentality if we actually plan to decarbonize effectively /fin
wait one last thing. For anyone else passionate about a clean energy future, you should follow tomorrow's #FastestPathToZero livestream. I was supposed to speak but health issues prevented me from attending so I'll be watching the stream @ home with y'all
thirdway.org/events/fastest…
thirdway.org/events/fastest…
