Nuclear cuts ‘bad news’ for climate change
Singapore (AFP) April 4, 2011 – A global slowdown in the growth of nuclear power in reaction to the Japan crisis will seriously hamper the fight against climate change, a top International Energy Agency (IEA) official said Monday. IEA chief economist Fatih Birol told AFP that governments must study the implications carefully before making any decision to retire nuclear power plants earlier than expected or shelve plans for new facilities. “Nuclear is a very crucial part of the global energy mix,” he said in a telephone interview from the IEA headquarters in Paris as Japan battled to place the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactors under control. “A lower nuclear capacity growth in the future may have substantial effect on the global energy mix, energy prices and climate change.” In its annual report released last year, the IEA projected that 360 gigawatts of nuclear generating capacity would be added worldwide by 2035, on top of the existing 390 gigawatts already in use. But as governments turn more cautious after a killer quake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan on March 11 and crippled the Fukushima plant, the IEA modelled the possible consequences of halving its projection to 180 gigawatts. Birol said the model showed that the use of coal, natural gas and “renewables” to take up the slack from nuclear power would result in additional carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of 500 million tonnes. …
