Wind, solar, geothermal, hydro, wave energy Renewable sources are a crucial pillar of any plan to decarbonize the world's energy generation industries and eliminate fossil fuel use. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Wind and solar PV would be the main sources called upon to replace nuclear, and their pace of growth would need to accelerate at an unprecedented rate. We use cookies to provide the best experience for you. The Natrium plant is designed to run at 100 percent output, 24/7, outputting a constant 345 MWe in the form of heat. Where natural uranium comes out of the ground containing around 0.7 percent of the U-235 isotope that's split to generate nuclear energy, and traditional Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) nuclear reactor fuel is enriched by centrifugal processes or gas diffusion to contain 3-5 percent U-235, HALEU is further enriched, between 5 and 20 percent. Every nuclear plant runs 24/7/365 except for refueling outages, so there is nothing unique about this one doing that. We don't need it, and our heirs will get only the bill for ongoing maintenance. Thank you for subscribing. In Europe, Japan and other advanced economies, extensions of plants lifetimes also face uncertain prospects. But in the next 20 years, nearly five times that much would need to be built to offset nuclears decline. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. This report identifies the even greater challenges of attempting to follow this path with much less nuclear power. Providing flexible clean energy at a competitive cost. Around one quarter of the current nuclear capacity in advanced economies is set to be shut down by 2025 mainly because of policies to reduce nuclears role. Safe and nuclear do not belong together, ever. Find out about the world, a region, or a country, Find out about a fuel, a technology or a sector, Explore the full range of IEA's unique analysis, Search, download and purchase energy data and statistics, Search, filter and find energy-related policies, Shaping a secure and sustainable energy future, Clean Energy Transitions in Emerging Economies, Digital Demand-Driven Electricity Networks Initiative, Promoting digital demand-driven electricity networks. "Increased levels of energy storage capacity will be critical a part of the electricity grids of the future as we seek to achieve net-zero," the report says. The following recommendations are directed at countries that intend to retain the option of nuclear power. Achieving the pace of CO2 emissions reductions in line with the Paris Agreement is already a huge challenge, as shown in the Sustainable Development Scenario. In emerging and developing economies, particularly China, the nuclear fleet will provide low-carbon electricity for decades to come. In another place, the claimed benefit is that energy is stored in a molten salt system. They have turned out to cost far more than originally expected and dampened investor interest in new projects. For comparison, nuclear weapons need uranium enriched to more than 90 percent. For example, Korea has a much better record of completing construction of new projects on time and on budget, although the country plans to reduce its reliance on nuclear power. This has slowed the transition towards a clean electricity system. It says the Clean Energy Frontier of Bruce, Grey and Huron counties is therefore perfectly positioned to create new energy storage capacity by leveraging the investments being made to extend the life of the reactors at the Bruce plant with the flexibility that TC Energy's proposed pumped storage project in Meaford would provide. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. However difficult market conditions are a barrier to lifetime extension investments. The Energy Island, which represents most of the plant, can be constructed and operated without the need for special nuclear requirements or nuclear regulatory approval. Those doubts are especially strong in countries that have introduced competitive wholesale markets. Nuclear power has avoided about 55 Gt of CO2 emissions over the past 50 years, nearly equal to 2 years of global energy-related CO2 emissions. What happens with plans to build new nuclear plants will significantly affect the chances of achieving clean energy transitions. Advanced economies would face a sizeable shortfall of low-carbon electricity. "Bruce Power's nuclear output is a backbone of Ontario's clean electricity grid, providing the province with stable, reliable, emissions-free baseload electricity," noted James Scongack, the company's Chief Development Officer and Executive Vice-President Operational Services. But for many reasons intermittency, location dependency, land requirements, and others they can't do it alone. The Natrium technology features a 345MWe reactor combined with a gigawatt-scale thermal energy storage system that can be optimized for specific markets. Investment needs would increase by almost USD 340 billion as new power generation capacity and supporting grid infrastructure is built to offset retiring nuclear plants. But to achieve a trajectory consistent with sustainability targets including international climate goals the expansion of clean electricity would need to be three times faster than at present. That is absolutely phenomenal. One promising initiative that has been backed by heavy private investment as well as the US Department of Energy is a collaboration between Bill Gates's Terrapower and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy. In terms of safety, the control rods will drop by themselves due to gravity in the event of a power outage, and the natural circulation of the air will function as emergency cooling. A combination of emission-free electricity from the Bruce nuclear power plant paired with long-duration energy storage can help maintain the reliability of Ontario's electricity system while reducing reliance on gas-fired plants, a report by the Nuclear Innovation Institute (NII) concludes. The European Union and the United States have the largest active nuclear fleets (over 100 gigawatts each), and they are also among the oldest: the average reactor is 35 years old in the European Union and 39 years old in the United States. Put on your thinking cap for a second. However the nuclear fleet in advanced economies is 35 years old on average and many plants are nearing the end of their designed lifetimes. In advanced economies, nuclear has long been the largest source of low-carbon electricity, providing 18% of supply in 2018. To find out more check our cookies and privacy policy. xr88$Vqf` The need to extend the transmission grid to connect new plants and upgrade existing lines to handle the extra power output also increases costs. The fate of the remaining capacity depends on decisions about lifetime extensions in the coming years. High levels of pressure can have explosive consequences, and they also greatly increase the cost of the plant, as nuclear-grade high pressure components are not cheap. Keep up to date with our latest news and analysis by subscribing to our regular newsletter. However, despite the contribution from nuclear and the rapid growth in renewables, energy-related CO2 emissions hit a record high in 2018 as electricity demand growth outpaced increases in low-carbon power. /Length 2781 Liquid sodium will transfer an impressive amount of heat away from the reactor at normal atmospheric pressures, with the added bonus that it won't dissociate into hydrogen and oxygen, so Fukushima-style hydrogen explosions are out of the question. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Considering the projected death toll of a 2C temperature rise somewhere between 300 million and 3 billion premature deaths spread over one to two centuries the fourth generation of nuclear power is well and truly back on the table, and with many decades of development, advanced modeling and materials technology on its side, it's likely set to improve its already excellent safety record. Countries envisaging a future role for nuclear account for the bulk of global energy demand and CO2 emissions. The key innovation relative to past reactors is the novel architecture, which separates and simplifies major structures. This is an enormous advantage, particularly in the context of decarbonization, where load-reactive systems like this will play a critical role supporting renewable energy sources through the peaks and troughs in their less predictable generation cycles. TerraPower and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy brought together their decades of unparalleled design expertise and technical capabilities to develop the Natrium technology, which features a cost-competitive sodium fast reactor combined with a molten salt energy storage system. In the European Union, the case for nuclear lifetime extensions is stronger. For example, the state-of-the-art energy storage can boost the systems output to 500MWe of power for more than five and a half hours when needed. 2021 TerraPower, LLC. The implications of the Nuclear Fade Case are numerous, including possible electricity security concerns as gas-fired capacity plays an even more central role in meeting peak demand, and the need for significant additional investment. Natrium says it should be four times more fuel efficient than light water reactors. This nuclear-industry-favorable writeup is not balanced by expert review or interview, so readers should consider going to the IEER.org web site and reading books like The Nuclear Power Deception, Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free, Nuclear Power Is Not The Answer, and Insurmountable Risks. Nuclear plants help to keep power grids stable. That has been driven by advanced economies, where nuclear fleets are ageing, additions of new capacity have dwindled to a trickle, and some plants built in the 1970s and 1980s have been retired. Investment policies need to overcome financing barriers through a combination of long-term contracts, price guarantees and direct state investment. That means the key to making energy systems clean is to turn the electricity sector from the largest producer of CO2 emissions into a low-carbon source that reduces fossil fuel emissions in areas like transport, heating and industry. Nuclear power is the second-largest source of low-carbon electricity today, with 452 operating reactors providing 2700TWh of electricity in 2018, or 10% of global electricity supply. The additional investment required in advanced economies would not be offset by savings in operational costs, as fuel costs for nuclear power are low, and operation and maintenance make up a minor portion of total electricity supply costs. Researched and written by World Nuclear News, WNN is a public information service of World Nuclear Association, 2021World Nuclear Association Privacy Notice | Cookies Policy, Tower House, 10 Southampton Street, London, WC2E 7HA, UK. For wind and solar PV to achieve that growth, various non-market barriers would need to be overcome such as public and social acceptance of the projects themselves and the associated expansion in network infrastructure. Lifetime extensions are considerably cheaper than new construction and are generally cost-competitive with other electricity generation technologies, including new wind and solar projects. If it all works out well, the Natrium design promises to be fast to build and commission, and to use far less nuclear-grade concrete than traditional designs a huge factor in keeping the cost down and reducing the "green premium" on emissions-free energy. This report focuses on the role of nuclear power in advanced economies and the factors that put nuclear power at risk of future decline. Copyright TerraPower, LLC and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Taking nuclear out of the equation results in higher electricity prices for consumers. /Filter /FlateDecode Eating up old nuclear waste? Without widespread lifetime extensions or new projects, electricity supply costs would be close to USD 80 billion higher per year on average for advanced economies as a whole. Bad idea. With nuclear power fading away, electricity systems become less flexible. stream Create a free IEA account to download our reports or subcribe to a paid service. KLg+X`+[-fSp( In this context, countries that intend to retain the option of nuclear power should consider the following actions: Nuclear power today makes a significant contribution to electricity generation, providing 10% of global electricity supply in 2018. Learn more about the Natrium technology at NatriumPower.com. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. At the other end of this storage system is a set of steam turbines that can take that constant power and generate enough electricity to power somewhere around 225,000 homes. The heat is then transferred from the liquid metal coolant loop to the external molten salt thermal energy storage loop. It requires large increases in efficiency and renewables investment, as well as an increase in nuclear power. In 2021, TerraPower, along with the utility PacifiCorp, announced efforts to demonstrate the Natrium technology in Kemmerer, Wyoming at the site of a retiring coal plant. Using reprocessed waste is a bonus. In the case where no further investments are made in advanced economies to extend the operating lifetime of existing nuclear power plants or to develop new projects, nuclear power capacity in those countries would decline by around two-thirds by 2040. I am 100% in. IEA (2019), Nuclear Power in a Clean Energy System, IEA, Paris https://www.iea.org/reports/nuclear-power-in-a-clean-energy-system. Low wholesale electricity and carbon prices, together with new regulations on the use of water for cooling reactors, are making some plants in the United States financially unviable. The IEAs Nuclear Fade Case explores what could happen over the coming decades in the absence of any additional investment in lifetime extensions or new projects. Options to offset this include new gas-fired power plants, increased storage (such as pumped storage, batteries or chemical technologies like hydrogen) and demand-side actions (in which consumers are encouraged to shift or lower their consumption in real time in response to price signals). In fact, on a per MWe basis, it uses 80% less nuclear-grade concrete compared to todays large reactors. Around USD 1.6 trillion in additional investment would be required in the electricity sector in advanced economies from 2018 to 2040. Nuclear power plants contribute to electricity security in multiple ways. This allows for a nuclear design that follows daily electric load changes and helps customers capitalize on peaking opportunities driven by renewable energy fluctuations. Standardisation of reactor designs would be crucial to benefit from economies of scale in the manufacturing of SMRs.