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Add to Preferred SourcesIAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said nuclear power is playing an important role in the world’s production of clean energy, “contributing massively” to avoiding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in many countries and providing innovative solutions that could be very useful to emerging economies.
“Nuclear power has a great deal to contribute as part of clean, resilient, inclusive energy systems, which are of course indispensable drivers of economic development, especially at this hard time of pandemic recession all over the world,” Mr. Grossi said. “Nuclear energy is not a promise in terms of low carbon energy, it is already now today contributing massively to a low carbon economy and a green grid” by avoiding the equivalent of 55 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over the last 50 years, he added.
Nuclear power, which emits no carbon dioxide during operation, currently provides about 10% of the world’s electricity, which amounts to around one-third of all low carbon electricity. Some 54 nuclear power reactors are under construction around the world, two-thirds of them in Asia.
The IAEA Director-General emphasized that nuclear power helps to provide stability to electrical grids, particularly those with high shares of variable renewable sources that depend on sunshine or wind. He noted that nuclear power plants can operate flexibly by following demand and limiting the impact of seasonal fluctuations in renewable output and can also bolster energy security by lessening reliance on imported fuels.
Recalling his participation in last year’s COP25 climate conference in Madrid, Mr. Grossi said the Agency will continue to take part in major global energy and climate discussions including COP26 next year in Glasgow, United Kingdom.
Original source: IAEA
Published on 09 July 2020