[ad_1]
Global carbon emissions would be 6% lower than they are today but for the “inaccurate narrative” against nuclear power after the Chernobyl disaster, which created “unfounded public concern”, according to Tony Blair’s think tank.
A report by the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) found that if nuclear energy industry continued to grow at the same rate as before the 1986 nuclear disaster, the carbon savings would be equivalent to eliminating the emissions of Canada, South Korea, Australia and Mexico combined.
Global emissions are higher than they could be because of a sharp slowdown in the number of nuclear reactors opened since the 1980s, the report released Monday said. More than 400 reactors were found to have started up in the 30 years before the Chernobyl disaster, but fewer than 200 were commissioned in the nearly 30 years since.
“The result is that nuclear power has never become the ubiquitous energy source that many predicted, with countries turning instead to alternatives such as coal and gas,” the report said.
The think tank predicts a “new nuclear era” in the coming years, driven by a surge in demand for low-carbon electricity from power-hungry data centers needed to power artificial intelligence.
But he warned that the public’s perception of the risk of nuclear power was “out of proportion to the actual risk” and global leaders would need to move past the “false alarm and ideology” that have slowed nuclear development in recent decades.
“In the entire history of nuclear energy, there have been only two major accidents – the one in Chernobyl and Fukushima [in Japan in 2011] – and their effects, while serious, have been greatly overestimated,” the report said.
Earlier this year, Microsoft laid out plans to help reopen nuclear plant at the infamous Three Mile Island site in Pennsylvania – the location of the most serious nuclear meltdown and radiation leak in US history – to power its AI operations.
Weeks later, Google signed a a “world first” deal to buy power from a fleet of six or seven mini-nuclear reactors from California-based Kairos Power to generate the power needed to increase AI use. Amazon and software company Oracle have also signed agreements to develop small modular reactors (SMRs) to power their data centers.
A new dawn for nuclear power represents a “significant opportunity” for the UK, according to a second TBI report. He called on the government to set out a “bold new strategy” for nuclear technology, including the creation of “AI growth zones” across the country, where nuclear projects designed to power data centers would face simplified planning rules.
Tonne Langengen, senior policy adviser at TBI and lead author of the report, said: “A new nuclear era is beginning. But whether this continues will depend entirely on whether leaders are willing to overcome false alarm and ideology, making a judgment call based on a fact-based risk assessment.
Earlier this year, MPs on the environmental audit committee said the Conservative government’s approach to the development of factory-built small modular nuclear power stations “lacks clarity”, even after the government created the company Great British Nuclear, which is expected to deliver new power stations , including a fleet of SMRs.
The previous government spent £215m developing the SMR design and held a competition for companies to bid for contracts.
The UK has not completed a nuclear power station since Sizewell B was completed in 1995. In 2006, as Prime Minister, Blair announced that the UK would build a new generation of nuclear power stationsbut the plan was delayed legal challenges.
[ad_2]
