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The case for a return to nuclear power

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Abstract

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the east coast of Japan. This earthquake, also known as the “Great East Japan Earthquake”, triggered extremely destructive tsunami waves of up to 40.5 m high, in some locations reaching up to 10 km inland. The nuclear power station at Fukushima survived the earthquake but was knocked out of operation by the tsunami. In particular, the emergency power supply for cooling the reactors was lost. At the end of May, 2011, German chancellor Angela Merkel decided to shut down all 17 nuclear power reactors in Germany, which, collectively, supply 23% of that country’s electrical power. Yet, to supply the growing energy demands in both developed and developing economies, projected to grow at the rate of 2.5 TW (terawatts) per decade, while reducing the production of greenhouse gases, nuclear power must be part of the solution. This paper makes the case for increased electrical energy production by nuclear power to meet these growing demands.

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Notes

  1. The Vajont, Italy, disaster of 1963: www.vajont.info/scuse.

  2. This is a quotation from the Ontario Hydro web site.

  3. From the IAEA site: http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.html.

  4. Niels Bohr, as quoted in New Scientist, 208, no. 2792/2793 (2011).

  5. Figures 2 and 3 are based on a talk by Nathan S. Lewis in 2004 at California Institute of Technology.

  6. CANDU®is a registered trademark of Atomic Energy of Canada, Limited (AECL).

  7. Google Maps.

  8. Alt et al. (1967).

  9. Haidenbauer et al. (1987).

  10. http://www.aecl.ca/Development/SD-WMD.htm.

  11. Canadian Nuclear Association50th Anniversary Booklet, 2010; www.cna.ca.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada

    Juris P. Svenne

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  1. Juris P. Svenne
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Correspondence to Juris P. Svenne.

Additional information

Based on a presentation at the DAAD Alumni Conference in New York City, October 29, 2010.

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Svenne, J.P. The case for a return to nuclear power. Environmentalist 32, 346–352 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10669-011-9358-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10669-011-9358-1

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