17 Sep (NucNet): A significant increase of all clean, low-carbon technologies such as nuclear power is needed if climate change targets set under the Paris Agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change are to be met, the International Atomic Energy Agency has said in a new report.
The Paris Agreement, which was adopted in December 2015 and provides the international legal framework for addressing climate change, seeks to limit the increase in global average temperatures to well below 2°C relative to preindustrial levels by encouraging the use of low-carbon energy sources to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Some 70% of the world’s electricity comes from burning fossil fuels, but to meet climate goals by 2050, 80% of electricity will need to be low-carbon, the IAEA said in the report, quoting figures from the International Energy Agency.
The report, ‘Climate Change and Nuclear Power 2018’, says nuclear power can make “a vital contribution” to meeting climate change targets while delivering the increasingly large quantities of electricity needed for global economic development.
It says the use of nuclear energy can result in significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Potential non-electrical applications of nuclear power include seawater desalination, district heating, hydrogen production, oil extraction and other petrochemical applications, and propelling large tankers and container ships.
IAEA deputy director-general Mikhail Chudakov, head of the department of nuclear energy, said electricity demand expected to rise sharply in the coming years as countries need more power for development.
“If nuclear power deployment doesn’t expand in line with this scenario, the other technologies may not fill the gap – and we may not meet our climate targets,” he said.
Nuclear power currently generates almost 11% of the world’s electricity, which amounts to one-third of the globe’s low-carbon electricity. However, according to the new report, global electricity demand is expected to almost double by 2050. Yet the future contribution of nuclear power and other low-carbon sources to the world’s energy mix will depend on a variety of factors, including yet to be defined rules for implementing the Paris Agreement.
The IAEA’s latest annual projections for nuclear power, released earlier this week, show that its generating capacity risks shrinking as ageing reactors are retired and the industry grapples with reduced competitiveness.
The report is online: https://bit.ly/2MFlGOq
