25 Nov (NucNet): Foratom, the Brussels-based trade association for the nuclear energy industry in Europe, has welcomed the publication of the Nuclear for Climate initiative’s position paper ‘Nuclear is part of the solution for fighting climate change’.
Ahead of next month’s COP21 climate change summit in Paris, Foratom director-general Jean-Pol Poncelet said the Nuclear for Climate initiative, which brings together more than 140 associations and technical societies, will show how nuclear energy can help lower greenhouse gas emissions and tackle climate change.
Foratom said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has acknowledged that nuclear energy offers this advantage.
In April 2014, the IPCC said nuclear energy was among the low-carbon energy sources that, should their usage triple or quadruple by 2050, would help limit the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
The Nuclear for Climate position paper says “significant expansion” of nuclear energy is needed for the world to achieve an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The paper urges negotiators at the COP21 climate summit to develop “an achievable agreement” for the reduction of greenhouse gasses which ensures countries have the right to choose nuclear energy in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while meeting their energy and development objectives.
“All countries should have the right to choose nuclear energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet their national clean energy objectives,” said Mr Poncelet.
“All possible solutions have to be carefully considered and all ideologically or doctrinally driven decisions avoided. States should recognise nuclear energy as a greenhouse gas-reducing technology necessary for us to achieve the sustainability we want.”
Nuclear for Climate’s position paper is online: http://bit.ly/1ObnXP2
