Nuclear power not only provides a carbon-free power source. It is also a big driver for other key ideas tied to ESG – technological and social progress.
“It is always associated with progress, it is always associated with development,” said Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom, during a recent panel at the ongoing Expo 2020 Dubai. The Russian state-owned nuclear power company is hosting a week-long programme titled “Breakthrough Technologies for a Sustainable Future” at the Expo.
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) showed that the climate is changing faster than previously feared, providing a grave threat to the planet. World leaders, institutional investors and corporations met late last year at COP 26 in Scotland to seek unity on reducing carbon emissions that cause climate change.
Yet concern over the environment is only one facet in the rise of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) issues. These are driving investment metrics and national decisions on how to navigate the future, including in energy.
The politicisation of nuclear energy undermines the shared global goal of combating climate emergencies. It can also detract from science.
Germany, for instance, closed nuclear power plants yet replaced the generation with coal capacity. So while Germany has pushed further ahead in renewables than countries like France, it still has a higher carbon footprint.
Likhachev echoed another panelist’s opinion that this was a “tragic mistake” for climate. According to the Rosatom boss, an equal mistake may be the reductions in research and development and cuts in fundamental science that accompany the removal of a nuclear industry. These are key for progress and innovation across industries, medicine included.
Otherwise, reliable low-cost energy is a driver for progress. Nuclear provides guaranteed costs for periods of at least 40 years and potentially longer than 60 years. Fuel inputs are a small part of the cost, which remains stable as a result. This allows business and development to concentrate on services, and not on whether energy prices will allow them or not.
Speakers noted the Northern Sea Route as one example of a crossover between innovation, carbon reduction and nuclear power. The Arctic route is possible due to Russia’s fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers that clear it for passage by tankers and freight vessels. The benefit of the route is that it allows maritime cargoes to cut in half the distance it takes to travel from Europe to Asia.
That leads to half the emissions in very hard-to-decarbonize shipping sectors, H.E. Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, CEO of D.P. World, said during the panel discussion.
Enthusiasm for nuclear power as an answer may not be as great outside Rosatom as from within. Yet climate-focused investment groups certainly aren’t showing resistance.
“We have no opportunity to build new fossil fuel generation activity,” said Sean Kidney, CEO of the Climate Bonds Initiative. “We need to keep everything that is low-carbon, and I absolutely agree that nuclear is a low-carbon energy source.”
Nuclear waste management, disposal and safety remain the key issues impeding growth of nuclear industries. These are long-running concerns. And these remain in the public debate, including in Europe, regarding proposals for what fuels to label as “green.”
Yet the practicalities of moving mass power generation to carbon-free sources leave few other options. Another closer look at nuclear energy by governments and investors will likely show that climate is not the only benefit. As put forth by Rosatom, linked gains in science and innovation can also play a driving role in decisions to expand its use.
