As nations battle rising energy costs and world temperatures, nuclear looks to remain an important part of the clean-energy mix, even in countries that had previously stopped investing in the technology.

Japan, for example, turned against nuclear after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, when a tsunami and earthquake struck, leading to power loss and the failure of cooling systems in three reactors. But the country in 2022 announced that it would restart old plants. extend the life of plants past the 60-year limit and build next-generation reactors.

The U.S.’ first new reactor in 40 years came on line in Georgia in 2023.

Sweden’s parliament in June green-lit plans to build new nuclear reactors. The country plans to build 10 in the next 20 years as part of a target to reach net-zero emissions by 2045. The country 40 years ago voted to phase out nuclear power.

“This creates the conditions for nuclear power,” Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson said in parliament per Reuters. “We need more electricity production, we need clean electricity and we need a stable energy system.”

Mohamed Ibrahim Al Hammadi, president of the World Association of Nuclear Operators, was also keen on the technology’s future in the UAE when he spoke in 2022 at the opening of the Barakah plant’s third reactor. “The Barakah plant is spearheading the decarbonisation of the power sector, sustainably generating abundant electricity to meet growing demand and power growth,” he said.

Other countries in the MENA region, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, are also investing in nuclear, KU’s Al Ameri adds. Egypt began construction on its El Dabaa site on the Mediterranean coast in 2022.

Meanwhile in France, President Emmanuel Macron in 2022 announced six new reactors to come online by 2050.

That year is important, says Henry Preston of the World Nuclear Association.

“Demand for electricity is set to increase at least 50 percent by 2050, with the global population, electrification and access to electricity all projected to increase,” he tells KUST Review. “It is therefore crucial to use cost-effective and proven solutions to provide secure access to 24/7 low-carbon electricity to support socioeconomic development for everyone.”

LOW-CARBON BACKBONE

The International Energy Agency, an intergovernmental organization based in Paris, in a 2019 report called nuclear, along with hydropower, “the backbone of low-carbon energy generation,” providing 75 percent of global low-carbon energy generation.

This has reduced CO2 emissions by more than 70 gigatons over 50 years, Preston says. To put that into perspective, a single gigaton is equivalent to about twice the mass of all humans on Earth. Seventy gigatons also equals nearly two years of global energy-related emissions, Preston says.

Land use is one of the issues addressed in Simon Friederich and Maarten Boudry’s 2022 paper in Philosophy & Technology on the ethics of nuclear energy in times of climate change. They conclude that even considering such issues as waste disposal and diminishing uranium reserves, “From the point of view of climate-change mitigation, investments in nuclear energy as part of a broader energy portfolio will be ethically required to minimize the risks of decarbonization failure.”

LOOKING AHEAD

The 2019 International Energy Agency report foresaw risks of steep declines in nuclear’s use in advanced economies. And there are drawbacks to the technology, to be sure: It’s expensive to build and slow to roll out. The power it produces is also expensive, rising 40 percent per kilowatt since 2011 while solar’s price is falling. And what to do with the waste remains an issue. But the World Nuclear Association’s Preston remains enthusiastic.

“Reactors online today can expect to operate for 60-80 years, so I think there is also a growing appreciation that nuclear power plant construction and operation generates thousands of long-term, high-quality jobs, along with substantial socioeconomic benefits into the local, regional and national economies,” Preston says.

KU’s Al Ameri is similarly enthusiastic. “In terms of the technology itself, we know that nuclear is clean. Operation cost is not expensive. And it continuously supplies energy to the grid.”