Nuclear Energy: The Leading Strategy for Reducing Carbon-Dioxide Emissions Position Statement 44 Revised June 2006 AMERICAN NUCLEAR SOCIETY

Nuclear Energy: The Leading Strategy for Reducing Carbon-Dioxide Emissions

Position Statement 44

Revised June 2006

AMERICAN NUCLEAR SOCIETY

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Outreach Program (708) 352-6611

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Federal Affairs (708) 352-6611

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www.ans.org

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Nuclear Power: The Leading Strategy for

Reducing Carbon Emissions

Position Statement

Revised June 2006

The American Nuclear Society believe sthat one of the most effective wa

ys to reduce global carbon-dioxide emissions in the future is by making increasing use of nucl

ear energy to replace fossil fuels. This technology is the only one with near-zero carbon-dioxide

emissions that has been proven capable of delivering, reliably and sustainably, the large quantities of energy

needed by an industrial society. Also, the energy from nuclear fission isessentially inexhaustible, just as is the energy fr

om sources traditionally considered "renewable." 

 

Other energy technologies withlow carbon-dioxide emissions, such as wind, solar, and hydro, should be used where

appropriate. However, they have a limited capability and, with the exception of hydro, produce energy

intermittently, requiring backup power generators or storage facilities. Their land-use requirements are high, and

they have nonnegligible external costs, such as degradation of the environment, displacement of populations,

destruction of natural habitats, and diversion of natural resources from other socially useful applications.

 

Nuclear power plants produce about 7%of the world's overall energy and 16% of the electricity. Without the

nuclear contribution, the increase in carbon-dioxide emissions over the past few decades would have been much

greater. However, carbon-dioxide emission are still increasing as our economies grow, and urgent action is required

if carbon-dioxide emissions are to be reduced. Countries with a vigorous program of nuclear energy production have greatly reduced their carbon-dioxide emissions. France, for instance, with about 42% of its over

ll energy and about 78% of itselectricity produced bynuclear plants, emits the lowest tonnage of carbon

dioxide per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) among theworld’s major industrial nations—about half

that of the United States and Canada. Globally, most of the carbon-dioxide emissions are due to using energy for purposes other than generation of

electricity (space heating, process heat,transportation, etc.). For that reason

it is essential that the application ofnuclear energy be expanded to other areas, if necessary, by means of special

-purpose reactors. Electric transportation, synthetic transportation fuels, extraction of oil from ta

r sands, and desalination are especially promising areas of opportunity.Therefore, to minimize futre carbon-dioxide emissions,

the American Nuclear Society strongly recommends the following course of action:

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Assure the continued safe operation of the existing nuclear power plants and facilitate the extension of their

operating life;

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Develop and deploy advanced nuclear power plants, including fast-neutron reactors;

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Increase the contribution of nuclear energy as part of a balanced energy mix and expand its use beyond

electricity generation;

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Promote electrically driven public transportation systems and encourage the continued development and

increased use of electrical energy in all forms of transportation.

The American Nuclear Soicety, founded in 1954, is a not-for-profit scientific and educational

society of over 10,000 scientist engineers, and educators from universities, gover

nment and private laboratories, and industry.

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http://www.ans.org/pi/ps/docs/ps44.pdf