With the world population forecasted to rise from 6 billion to 8 billion in the next 25 years so is our forecasted demand for energy which is expected to double by 2050. Combine this with a growing global movement to save the planet from ‘Global warming’ and companies/ governments around the world are striving to utilize and look for alternative sources of energy. The movement towards alternative energy supplies is driven by a need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and curb our soaring energy costs. However, even alternative energy supplies, be it for a company or for a country need to have certain attributes: reliability, economic feasibility and environmentally safe. So does nuclear energy fit this bill?
1) Since nuclear reactors are not affected by unstable weather conditions, supply (uranium) cost fluctuations and frequent shutdowns they have been very effective and reliable as producers of the required level of electricity for electric grids to operate. Also, nuclear reactors can run continuously for between 600 to 800 days without refueling, which on average took around 40 days in 2006 but has come down from 100+ days in 1990. Lastly, a tally of the world’s uranium resources shows that 50% of the world’s supply is found among 4 countries with relatively low geopolitical risks: Australia, Kazakhstan, Canada and the United States. So to sum up, nuclear reactors supply prolonged stable nuclear power with increasingly minimal refueling time and little geopolitical risk to uranium supplies.
2) If a country/government/company does not have direct access to low cost fossil fuels, nuclear energy provides a very competitive alternative. According to the World Nuclear Association, the cost per kilowatt hour for nuclear energy is $1.68 cents, for coal fired plants it is $1.90 cents, for oil it is $5.39 cents and for Gas it is 5.87 cents. Although the initial startup costs to build nuclear reactors are quite high the costs to fuel the reactor are minimal. According to the World Nuclear Association, typically, the total fuel costs of a nuclear reactor are about one third of those for a coal-fired plant and between a quarter and a fifth of those for a gas combined-cycle plant. As technology and efficiency is further refined, the fuel costs for nuclear reactors will continue to decline. Nuclear energy is also very efficient due to its concentrated source of energy, for example one uranium fuel pellet is the equivalent of 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas, 1,780 pounds of coal, or 149 gallons of oil. This is why a typical 1000 megawatt reactor can provide enough electricity for a modern city of up to one million people. Thus, while capital costs for building nuclear reactors are much higher than competing energy sources the fuel costs are much lower so as long as reactors function above a certain threshold (above 70%) nuclear energy remains one of the cheapest energy sources.
3) Nuclear reactors do not burn anything so they do not produce any harmful byproducts. Nuclear energy also generates electricity without releasing any harmful greenhouse gases or carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, in 2005, U.S. nuclear power plants reduced emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide—pollutants controlled under the Clean Air Act—by 1.1 million short tons and 3.3 million short tons, respectively. Also in 2005, U.S. nuclear plants prevented the discharge of 682 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Currently nuclear energy saves the emission of 2.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide relative to coal and doubling the world's nuclear output would reduce CO2 emissions from power generation by about one quarter. There exist several methods to manage and safely store radioactive wastes from nuclear reactors and one of them happen to be the ‘multiple barrier’ method which immobilizes the radioactive elements and isolates them from the environment. The method involves, concealing the radioactive waste in an insoluble matrix such as borosilicate glass or synthetic rock and then sealing it inside a corrosion-resistant container. This is then followed by placing the container in a deep underground in a stable rock structure and surrounding it with containers with an impermeable backfill such as bentonite clay. The reason that this is an effective method is because after 40-50 years radioactivity levels fall one thousandth of the level at removal.
So I hope by now I have managed to highlight to at least a few of you why in 2006, world nuclear generation increased by 1.4% with nuclear power plants generating 2,808 terawatt hours of electricity, the highest nuclear electricity generation ever. In short, its because nuclear energy is reliable, economically feasible and environmentally safe.
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