Is nuclear energy a true source of renewable energy? In this context, zero-emissions do not translate to renewability due to the reliance on a limited resource: uranium. If all of the world's energy today was obtained by nuclear power, uranium reserves would be exhausted in roughly three years (van Leeuwen, 2004). At the current rate of use, 70,000 tonnes of uranium per year, reserves will only last approximately 55 more years, however if all of the speculative and undiscovered reserves are found an additional 200 years could be utilized.
Technology of nuclear power has not been thoroughly adopted in many Western nations, which is largely due to a variety of political, economic, and social concerns. The catastrophic events at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island fueled criticism of nukes and inhibited technological and infrastructure innovations. Limitations are abound in the production of electricity even though costs are essentially lower than fossil fuel production (without taking into account externalities and extraction, construction and disposal costs). If low-grade-ore is used, nuclear plants actually provide less useful energy than fossil fuel plants and thermal reactors only use 2% of energy available from natural uranium (Elliot, 2000).
MICROREACTORS
The most cutting-edge nuclear technology has proven to be a new wave of micro reactors, totaling between 10 and 300 MW generating capacity. Though not currently a proven technology, engineers believe that they can be widely produced at specialized facilities and then moved to the reactor site. This saves cost and energy during the construction process. These small-scale reactors also pose less of an environmental and social threat, as any accident would be concentrated and confined to a much smaller area around the site. (Brand, 2009)
Future of Nuclear Power
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/XaywY67mlqc" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
The reality of nuclear power is that reactors take considerably more time to build than the infrastructure for alternative sources and are more expensive in terms of total cost. Scale issues arise because large-scale reactors are much more economical than small scale options, although this trend may change with the adoption of micro reactors. Heavy government subsidies are necessary to make nuclear a viable option in a world with cheap fossil fuel consumption. The duration and costs of the construction process, limited uranium resources and relatively untested innovative technologies shrink the real capacity of nuclear power to combat climate change.
Back to Production Main Page