Thursday 4 October 2018

Low carbon myth of nuclear power debunked (again)



At the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham this week, energy minister Richard Harrison asserted on a 100% pro-nuclear panel: "I still believe the whole base case with nuclear power that we do need this base of power production," while widely praising  new nuclear as reliable and increasingly  cost-competitive.
(https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/energy/nuclear-power/opinion/nuclear-industry-association/98770/arguments-nuclear-power-have)

It makes you wonder who briefs him.

A week or so earlier, a pro-nuclear lobby group, New Nuclear Watch Institute, which masquerades as a think tank, issued a tendentiously inaccurate 34 page report, arguing that new nuclear is essential to meet  carbon emission reduction targets. It was reported in The Guardian

In response I wrote this unpublished letter, below, correcting certain factual mistakes:

Here we go again! Your energy editor’s on line article  (“Abandoning nuclear power plans ‘would push up carbon emissions,” 26 Sept) reports lobby group the New Nuclear Watch Institute as claiming nuclear power is both low carbon and its alternatives “ will raise the cost of electricity.
All the robust evidence demonstrates the opposite in both cases. Just over a year ago you published a letter from me challenging the low or even zero carbon claims of nuclear ( “Beware nuclear industry’s fake news on being emissions free,”17 Sept 2017; www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/17/beware-nuclear-industrys-fake-news-on-being-emissions-free)
In my letter from a year ago, I pointed out I had challenged this nuclear low carbon myth in your columns 12 years earlier. (“There is nothing green about Blair’s nuclear dream, “ 20 October 2005<https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/oct/20/greenpolitics.world.
I said in my letter a year ago “It  is about time this dangerous falsehood was confined to the dustbin of history.”
Sadly it seems, like Freddy, it seems it is going to be resurrected each mellow autumn!

 Here are some of the more egregiously challengeable extracts  from the report.


 

 

THE FALSE ECONOMY OF ABANDONING NUCLEAR POWER

Techno-Zealotry and

the Transition Fuel Narrative

 

FORWARD BY TIM YEO, CHAIRMAN,

THE NEW NUCLEAR WATCH

INSTITUTE

There is now near universal agreement that the electricity generation industry

must be almost entirely decarbonised by 2050 to prevent the rise in average global

temperature from exceeding 2°C. However, the way in which this goal should be

reached continues to be vigorously debated.

Some campaigners claim that by mid-century Britain, and indeed other countries,

will be able to meet all its energy needs from renewables. Pointing to the delays

and cost overruns experienced recently in the construction of some new nuclear

plants they argue that, despite its impeccable credentials as a reliable supplier of

low carbon baseload electricity, nuclear power should now be phased out along

with coal.

They suggest that gas can fill the capacity gap caused by the closure of coal

plants until the massive (and so far, uncosted) electricity storage facilities, which

will be needed as dependence on intermittent energy sources increases, are

available. Substituting gas for coal will also cut carbon emissions.

This Report “The False Economy of Abandoning Nuclear Power”, which has been

commissioned by The New Nuclear Watch Institute, examines these arguments. It

considers both the environmental impact and the financial costs of phasing out

nuclear and relying instead on a combination of extra renewables and gas.

It compares this impact and these costs with an alternative approach designed to

minimise levelised system cost of electricity. This alternative involves keeping nuclear

in the energy mix, together with renewables and a small but diminishing role

for gas as a balancing fuel.

The Report’s conclusions are stark. Abandoning nuclear power leads unavoidably

to a very big increase in carbon emissions which will prevent Britain from meeting

its legally binding climate change commitments. It also raises the cost of electricity.

 

ABOUT TIM YEO

Tim Yeo was a Member of the UK Parliament for over 30-years, from 1983- 2015.

During his time as an MP, Tim was Chair of the influential Energy & Climate Change

Select Committee (2010-2015), and of the Environmental Audit Committee (2005-

10). Prior to this he served in several Government departments (1988-1994) including

Minister for the Environment and Countryside (1993-1994) in the John Major

Government.

Since leaving the House of Commons in 2015, Tim has been working in various energy

and climate change related roles in the business and academic worlds. These

include Chair of New Nuclear Watch Europe (NNWE), an industry supported body

which campaigns for new nuclear development across Europe, Board membership

(and former chair) of AFC Energy plc, an AIM listed UK based hydrogen fuel cell

developer, and Chair of the University of Sheffield Energy 2050 Industrial Advisory

Board. Tim remains a director of Getlink SE (formerly Groupe Eurotunnel), one

of the largest listed companies in France, where he chair’s the Board Strategy and

Sustainable Development Committee.

In 2016 KOTRA, the South Korean trade office, appointed Tim as the Honorary Ambassador

of foreign investment. He is also a frequent visitor to China where he

works with the UK-China (Guangdong) CCUS Centre on carbon capture projects,

with academic collaborators on the design of China’s emissions trading system

and with business colleagues on inward investment from China to the UK.

Founded by Tim Yeo at the end of 2014 New Nuclear Watch Europe (NNWE) is an interest

group which has been established to help ensure nuclear power is recognised

as an important and desirable way for European governments to meet the

long-term security needs of their countries. Membership is open to all companies,

individuals and organisations active in the nuclear industry including those involved

in the supply chain.

 

The New Nuclear Watch Institute (NNWI) is the first think-tank focused purely on

the international development of nuclear energy. It believes that nuclear energy is

vital for the world to achieve their binding Paris Climate Agreement objectives. Its

research will aim to promote, support, and galvanise the worldwide community to

fight the greatest challenge of our time: climate change.

The New Nuclear Watch Institute (NNWI)

7th floor

39 St James’s Street

London

SW1A 1JD

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

NATURAL GAS AND THE TRANSITION

FUEL NARRATIVE

THE EXCLUSION OF NUCLEAR POWER

THE SYSTEM COST OF ABANDONING

NUCLEAR

OTHER CONCERNS WITH THE TRANSITION

FUEL NARRATIVE

CONCLUSION

ANNEX

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1 comment:

  1. Valuable insights. We desperately need more like this debunking the nuclear lobby's absolute rubbish about nuclear fixing climate change.

    ReplyDelete