Research
Nuclear power generates record electricity output and carries genuine system-level value as firm, low-carbon capacity, but new Western builds cost roughly double comparable renewables on a plant-level basis and take over a decade to complete—making the core dispute less about physics than about whether those costs and delays are inherent to the technology or products of fixable institutional failures, with Korean and Emirati construction suggesting the latter. The most consequential unsettled questions are whether deep decarbonization is materially cheaper with nuclear in the mix (serious modeling finds 10–35% system-cost savings; serious modeling finds renewables-plus-storage can meet Paris targets without it) and whether capital committed to nuclear crowds out faster alternatives during the critical 2030–2040 window. A structural tension the briefing flags but mainstream coverage rarely quantifies: the full fuel cycle imposes documented, disproportionate burdens on Indigenous and low-income communities, 57% of major banks exclude nuclear from green finance despite relying on scenarios that assume it, and no public accounting exists of what equivalent renewable investment in the same jurisdiction and timeline would have delivered instead.
The total capacity of reactors that produced electricity in 2024 was 369 GWe, up 1 GWe on the 2023 total. In addition to the 20 GWe of offline ...
The 2024 edition of the IAEA's Climate Change and Nuclear Power report has been released, highlighting the need for a significant increase in investment.
Specifically, the IPCC found that nuclear energy generation capacity must nearly double by 2050 to keep global warming below 1.5°C.
This paper presents average values of levelized costs for new generation resources as represented in the National. Energy Modeling System (NEMS) for our Annual ...
About 80 reactors are under construction across the world. About 120 further reactors are planned. · Most reactors under construction or planned are in Asia.
The results of our Levelized Cost of Energy (“LCOE”)analysis reinforce what we observe across the Power, Energy & Infrastructure Industry—sizable.
Renewable energy investment fell 9.5% year-on-year however … the gap widening to $102 billion from $85 billion in 2024. While clean energy ...
In May 2025 Belgium's parliament voted by a large majority to repeal the 2003 law that directed a phase-out of nuclear power and banned ...
The nuclear power industry is attempting to exploit the climate crisis by aggressively promoting nuclear technology as a “low-carbon” means of generating ...
86% of residents support, and 53% strongly support, upgrading and refurbishing existing nuclear power plants. 88% held positive opinions on ...
Americans' support for the use of nuclear energy as an electricity source in the US has risen six percentage points, to 61%, since Gallup's last measurement, ...
by NA Sepulveda · 2018 · Cited by 750 — Availability of firm low-carbon technologies, including nuclear, reduces electricity costs by 10%–62% across fully decarbonized cases.
The IPCC AR6-WG3 Report makes it clear that existing nuclear reactor technology plays a cost-effective role in immediate climate mitigation ...
by H Ritchie · 2020 · Cited by 56 — In this article, we look at levels and changes in nuclear energy generation worldwide and its safety record in comparison to other sources of energy.
In the 2024 edition of the IEA's World Energy Outlook (WEO 2024), nuclear capacity reaches 586 GWe in 2040 and 647 GWe in 2050 in the STEPS; and ...
It is highly reliable and emissions-free. It provides generation diversity, which can reduce the adverse impacts of fuel price shocks.
Low-emissions heat and steam from advanced nuclear plants can supply reliable, clean energy for hard-to-decarbonize sectors such as heavy ...
It provides a comprehensive overview of nuclear power plant data, including information on operation, production, fleet age, and construction.
by F Ahmad · 2025 · Cited by 11 — The most important hindrance in the deployment of the SMRs is their cost competitiveness and this goal can only be met through modularization, standardization ...
Statement from Dr. Andrew Steer following the release of a new nuclear power analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
abinet Office, *Public Opinion Survey on Nuclear Energy*, June 2023 (in Japanese); English summary: https://www8.cao.go.jp/survey/h2023/tyousa2306/index-eng.html #### 🇰🇷 **South Korea**: *Export-led nuclear industrial policy, not domestic transition logic*
Assessment of SMR Deployment in Vietnam*, Hanoi, 2024 (in Vietnamese; executive summary in English: https://vast.gov.vn/en/publications/reports/2024-smr-assessment) --- ### 2. CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISONS: Policy Logics & Outcomes | Dimension | China | India | U
But as we argue in this perspective, these two goals are incompatible because nuclear power is incompatible with the proclaimed aims for justice. ... The routine operations of nuclear plants cause deep social injustices by harming “ethnic and racialized people, including differences of gender, age, ...
This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the suitability of nuclear power as an option to combat the escalating climate emergency. Summarizing and evaluating key arguments, we elucidate why nuclear power is unsuitable for addressing climate change. The primary argument centers around the unre...
The chapter addresses these concerns by arguing for 4 main claims. First, the nuclear fuel cycle imposes unjust and uncompensated radiation burdens on indigenous people and minorities, who are often forced to work for low pay in dangerous uranium mines and processing centers. Second, US commercial r...
The total CO2e emissions from nuclear power in Table 3.5 are 78 to 178 g-CO2e/kWh.
change. Greenhouse gas reduction targets can only be met through using the proven alternatives of renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency. Every dollar spent on nuclear power is a dollar stolen from the real solutions to climate change. ... The world must get on a course to stay as far b...
Our analysis indicates that the economic and energy-related impacts of strong climate policies are more significant than the impact of restrictive nuclear power policies, both in the short term and in the longer term.
Decades of experience with nuclear power shows that putative climate benefits of nuclear energy do not justify the significant social, cultural, and environmental costs it imposes.^[1]^ Nevertheless, the nuclear industry has utilized the acceleration of climate change to promote atomic power. More r...
A thorough assessment of the conditions fac- ing the nuclear industry has recently conclud- ed that nuclear power will not play a meaning- ful role in addressing climate change. ... The panel found14 that nuclear power will be incapable of playing a role in re- ducing GHG emissions in the critical ...
Sign up to read the full research briefing
Sign up