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World energy demand will continue to grow as populations increase and countries undergo industrial development and economic expansion. More than 2 billion people world-wide have no access to electricity. To meet these increasing demands, and to improve living standards for future generations, large increases in electricity generation will be necessary. Such increases must be achieved in a sustainable way that has the lowest possible environmental impact. No single energy source can be ‘sustainable’ by itself. However, nuclear can contribute to creating a sustainable energy system and thereby to sustainable development. Nuclear power plants generate about 17% of the world’s electricity and thereby avoid each year the release of some 1.8 billion tonnes of CO2 world-wide. In addition, nuclear energy is not limited to the generation of electricity, but may equally well be used for such important tasks as desalination, production of hydrogen, space heating and process-heat applications in industry as well as for extraction of carbon from CO2 to combine with hydrogen to create synthetic liquid fuels. Annually, the 435 operating nuclear power plants prevent the emission of more than 2 billion tons of CO2. By contrast, coal-fired stations emit worldwide about 30 billion tons of CO2 per year and cause health effects. In Europe alone, climate-friendly nuclear electricity saves the emission of about 500 million tonnes of CO2 a year. To make an equivalent saving by reducing car use, the amount of motoring done in the EU would have to drop by 75%. CO2 emissions can be further avoided by building new power reactors, upgrading existing nuclear plants to increase output and by extending plant operating lifetimes. |
Last Update：July,12,2016 Created：July,12,2016
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