Nuclear must be part of the international response to climate change

17 November 2016

Agneta Rising, Director General of the World Nuclear Association has called on parties to make it clear that nuclear energy will be part of their response to succeed in action on climate change.

Speaking at a press conference hosted by the Russian delegation today at the UNFCCC COP 22 climate change conference in Marrakech, Agneta Rising said; “Electricity is a vital part of our modern world. Full global access to reliable and affordable electricity supplies is essential. To meet the climate change objectives of the Paris agreement this must be achieved using all low carbon sources of electricity. Nuclear is a proven source of low carbon electricity. It promotes the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions while fostering sustainable development.”

Speaking at the same event, Kirill Komarov, First Deputy CEO for Corporate Development and International Business of Rosatom, noted that to meet world demand for electricity and tackle climate change there was a need to review the entire world energy supply with the aim to reduce carbon emissions. “We believe that in these circumstances, the most effective solution is to expand the use of nuclear power generation “, he said.

Kirill Komarov continued, “We are confident that the future of energy is a diversified balance of low-carbon technologies, providing affordability, security of supply and minimal environmental impact.”

Governments should act and give the policy support that is needed to be able to provide nuclear energy, which is low carbon, competitive, reliable and scalable energy. Nuclear is proven to scale up fast and the  nuclear sector is ready to deliver 

The members of the world’s nuclear industry have agreed a goal of constructing 1000 GW of new nuclear build by 2050, tripling the global capacity, so that nuclear would generate 25% of global electricity demand.

Over the last 45 years, nuclear generation has avoided the equivalent of two years of the world’s total carbon dioxide emissions – nearly 80 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Agneta Rising said, “France, Sweden, Switzerland, and Canada’s province of Ontario, have all achieved more than 80% low carbon electricity generation by using nuclear energy in harmony with renewable.  By using nuclear energy those countries have already achieved the kind of low carbon generation mixes that the whole world will have to adopt by 2050 if we are to meet the targets set by the Paris Agreement.

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