Nuclear advocate contests 'unrealistic' renewables scenarios

Australian-founded and -based, globally active nongovernmental organisation Bright New World argues that nuclear energy has a key role to play in ensuring both economic development and environmental sustainability.

“Our goal is a stable climate, human development and a rich nature,” explains the organisation’s founder and director, Ben Heard. “We want to address the benefits nuclear power can bring in this regard.”

He points out that emerging economies like South Africa still have major options when it comes to their future energy policies. And it is also these countries whose choices will be essential to the achievement of human development, maintaining a stable climate and a rich natural environment. “It is well known that there is a concept that South Africa would expand its nuclear capacity to 9.6 GW,” he observes. “We think this would be great for South Africa and the world. It would reduce dependence on coal, which puts our climate and biodiversity at risk.”

He highlights that, because the costs of nuclear are concentrated in the building phase, once a nuclear power plant has been commissioned and is in operation, its costs become stable and reliable. “This is because the cost of fuel comprises only a very small part of the cost of generating electricity using nuclear energy. “This means that the [nuclear] electricity price is highly stable and predictable for decades,” he emphasises. “This gives certainty, which is very important for developing economies.”

Nuclear power is also highly reliable. In the US, for every 1 MW of installed nuclear capacity, the actual electricity produced over a ten-year period is 0.91 MW. In comparison, the equivalent figure for wind power is about 0.3 MW. The figure for nuclear includes the times the reactors are shut down for refuelling and for scheduled and unscheduled maintenance. “This is an extremely high level of reliability.”

He also affirms that nuclear energy is clean energy. “It is the only fully reliable source of energy that does not use combustion. As a result, it doesn’t put out any atmospheric pollution, whether particulates or greenhouse gases.” (Hydroelectricity production can be crippled by drought.) Further, unlike coal-fired power stations, nuclear ones do not need to be ideally located close to the mines that produce uranium. This means, for a country like South Africa, nuclear power plants can be placed at the coast and use sea water (instead of fresh water) for cooling. “This is a water-security aspect. It means there is no impact on freshwater supplies.”

“I think that proposals that South Africa should use only renewable-energy sources are preposterous,” asserts Heard. “The South African population is still growing. The country’s electricity use per capita is still inadequate. “These scenarios rely on the idea that electricity demand need only increase by 10%, even when the population is expected to grow by 24% [by 2050]. “That means that poverty in South Africa would get worse. Extreme renewable-energy activists are treating energy [like] a game, engaging in unrealistic scenarios in order to avoid admitting [to] the use of nuclear energy. This is immoral because it dooms people to continued poverty.”

Nor must it be forgotten that many poor South Africans are still using wood as an energy source – perhaps as much as seven-million tons a year (including charcoal). In 2012, according to the Department of Environmental Affairs, 12% of South African households were still burning wood for cooking and 16% were burning wood for heating.

“The use of nuclear energy does not mean no use of renewables. Strong growth in the renewables sector is possible and will be great for South Africa. The ideal is to use an appropriate mixture of both,” he stresses. “Every country will have its own optimal renewable-energy mix. “For some countries, offshore wind power will be best. For others, it would be solar power. South Africa is excellent for solar, whether for water heating or electricity. But nuclear power is applicable everywhere. For secure, significant baseload power generation that is low-carbon, the only option for South Africa is nuclear.”