The upcoming decade will determine nuclear energy's viability as an alternative energy source in order to combat greenhouse gas emissions and halt the process of global warming, according to three speakers at the Thayer School of Engineering's second annual Great Issues in Energy Symposium on Friday.
The symposium featured Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Ernest Moniz, who also serves as director of MIT's Energy Initiative and the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment; Joseph Romm, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress; and Alexander Glaser, professor at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and lecturer at the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton University.
In his presentation, Moniz said that countries across the world will likely build new nuclear power plants over the next several years in order to determine the most efficient management system for the plants and whether public subsidization of nuclear energy is a viable long-term option.
Political obstacles, rather than the scarcity of uranium, have prevented the expansion of nuclear power as an energy source in the past and will continue to do so, according to Moniz.
All three speakers agreed that concerns about global climate change will drive the proliferation of nuclear energy use.
Nuclear energy is a possible way to curb climate change because of its low greenhouse gas emissions, Glaser said.
The panelists also discussed the drawbacks of nuclear power, including the environmental degradation resulting from uranium mining, as well as safety hazards, high economic costs and waste disposal, making the use of this energy alternative a contentious issue.
"Nobody in their right mind would build nuclear power plants, especially here in the United States, if there was not a concern about global warming," Romm said. "The degree of desperation [regarding global warming] is precisely what will determine how many nuclear power plants we build."
Mankind's effort to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions is "one of the desperate dashes of the human race," Romm said. He suggested implementing nuclear energy in the amount of one "stabilization wedge," a unit of measure for approaches that will save one gigaton of carbon per year over a 50-year timeframe.
Romm explained that 13 stabilization wedges would be necessary to drastically eliminate global carbon use. Even the contribution of one stabilization wedge through nuclear energy use is a daunting feat, he said.
In order to meet this goal, 1,000 new nuclear plants must be constructed over 40 to 50 years, Romm said.
"By the end of the century we're going to have to be close to zero and ideally negative net carbon emissions for the human race," Romm said. "That's a heck of a challenge."
The capital cost of nuclear energy, as well as the safety risks associated with plants' operation, are the main obstacles preventing nuclear energy from becoming more prominent, Romm said. He added that the substantial water use at nuclear power stations must be reduced to make nuclear power into a feasible energy source.
Glaser cited the public's perception of the danger of nuclear energy, as well as the political challenges associated with identifying waste disposal sites and techniques, as impediments to an increase in the use of nuclear energy in the United States.
Safe nuclear waste disposal requires a comprehensive waste disposal system, Moniz said.
"The science of geological isolation with respect to high-level waste is scientifically sound for well-chosen sites with good project execution," said Moniz. "Those are qualifiers that have direct relevance in the United States."
Romm expressed concerns regarding nuclear energy's economic feasibility.
"Half a dozen other major options, if competing on a level playing ground with nuclear, will just kick its butt," Romm said.
The panel discussion featured presentations by the speakers, followed by questions from the audience and from co-moderators Lee Lynd, the Paul E. and Joan H. Queneau distinguished professor in environmental engineering design at the College, and Rockefeller Center director Andrew Samwick.
