Nuclear power may be the key to least-cost, zero-emission electricity
systems
To nail down the last 10 or 20 percent of decarbonization, we will need
to have more tools in our toolbox

Date:
February 14, 2022
Source:
Carnegie Institution for Science
Summary:
Nuclear power generation can play a crucial role in helping the
world reach a key goal of zero carbon emissions by the middle
of the century, especially in countries with low wind resources,
according to new work.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Nuclear power generation can play a crucial role in helping the world
reach a key goal of zero carbon emissions by the middle of the century, especially in countries with low wind resources, according to new work in Nature Energy from Lei Duan and Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie's Department
of Global Ecology.


========================================================================== Human activity is spewing carbon pollution into the atmosphere,
affecting the global carbon cycle and causing warming, as well as altered precipitation patterns. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change, to minimize catastrophic climate impacts, it's important
that humanity work to keep the global mean temperature increase under 1.5 degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial levels. To achieve this goal,
the panel said carbon emissions from across the energy system would have
to reach zero by the middle of this century.

"Renewable energy sources like wind and solar are great for reducing
carbon- emissions," Duan said. "However, the wind and sun have natural variation in their availability from day to day, as well as across
geographic regions, and this creates complications for total emissions reduction." Today, gaps in the energy that wind and solar provide can be
made up by power generation from natural gas. However, in a zero-emission electricity system, another way is needed to provide electricity when
the sun is not shining, and the wind is not blowing.

Previous studies have shown that curbing 80 percent of carbon
emissions can be achieved by ramping up wind and solar power harvesting installations. However, gaps between supply and demand created by this variability in natural resources would require significant infrastructure changes -- massive expansions in energy storage and transmission
capabilities, as well as in energy generating infrastructure -- in order achieve 100 percent curtailment.

"To nail down that last 10 or 20 percent of decarbonization, we need to
have more tools in our toolbox, and not just wind and solar," Caldeira explained.

To assess the possibility of nuclear power to serve this need, Duan
and Caldeira, along with Robert Petroski of TerraPower LLC and Lowell
Wood of Gates Ventures LLC, investigated the wind and solar resources
of 42 countries and used this information to evaluate nuclear power's
ability to provide low-cost energy and replace natural gas as a backup
energy source. Their analysis focused on identifying which countries
would benefit from exploring nuclear power as an option for their energy
suite sooner rather than later.

They found that in countries such as the U.S., which have the right
geographic and climate conditions for generating ample wind power,
nuclear would not be deployed until it was needed to get over the last remaining hurdles of decarbonization. But in countries with poorer wind resources, such as Brazil, strategic use of nuclear power could enable
a faster transition away from carbon.

"Under strict greenhouse gas emission controls, reliable power generation provided by nuclear power has a lot of potential value in the electricity
grid for most nations," Duan concluded. "Places with poor wind resources
can benefit from nuclear earlier in the path to zero emissions, whereas
places with very good wind resources would only need it to get rid of
the last traces of carbon emissions." Added Caldeira: "Our analysis
looked at the cheapest way to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions
assuming today's prices. We found that at today's price, nuclear is
the cheapest way to eliminate all electricity-system carbon emissions
nearly everywhere. However, if energy storage technologies became very
cheap, then wind and solar could potentially be the least-cost path to
a zero-emission electricity system." This work is supported by a gift
from Gates Ventures LLC to the Carnegie Institution for Science.

special promotion Explore the latest scientific research on sleep and
dreams in this free online course from New Scientist -- Sign_up_now_>>> ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
Carnegie_Institution_for_Science. Note: Content may be edited for style
and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Lei Duan, Robert Petroski, Lowell Wood, Ken Caldeira. Stylized
least-cost
analysis of flexible nuclear power in deeply decarbonized
electricity systems considering wind and solar resources
worldwide. Nature Energy, 2022; DOI: 10.1038/s41560-022-00979-x ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220214111741.htm

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