Nuclear power can reduce emissions and maintain a strong economy: Rating Australia’s optimal future electricity-generation mix by technologies and policies

Implications of Australia's Population Policy for Future Greenhouse Gas Emissions Targets

“…With a 2020 target of 5 per cent reduction in emissions (relative to 2000), a 27 per cent reduction by 2030 (relative to 2005) and potentially an 80 per cent reduction by 2050, Australia has no credible mechanisms in place to achieve these goals. With a now-defunct carbon-pricing scheme (Schiermeier 2014), a weak and ambiguous renewable energy target (Roelfsema et al 2014;Simpson & Clifton 2014), a demonstrably ineffectual action plan for future emissions reductions (Lubcke 2013;Shahiduzzaman et al 2015) and legal impediments to building nuclear energy capacity (Hong et al 2014;Heard et al 2015), it seems unlikely that Australia will be able to achieve either of these two targets without substantial policy changes across population, energy, agriculture and environmental sectors.…”

“…Given that Australia has less than 14 years to meet the 2030 target, and less than 34 years to meet the putative 2050 target, and that a reduction in per capita emissions of 83.5 per cent would still be required even under the extreme scenario of no net migration, a possible solution would be to plan a large (>40 per cent) penetration of nuclear energy (Hong et al 2014;, supported by various renewable sources, to replace its ageing and polluting electricity generators (International Energy Agency 2014; Heard et al 2015). Even with the rapid construction of nuclear energy to replace its entire coal-fired and gas-fired baseload capacity (as France achieved >75 per cent nuclear penetration in 20 years) (Hong et al 2015), electricity production accounts for only about 33 per cent of Australia's total emissions (Commonwealth of Australia 2015b).…”

Long-term optimal energy mix planning towards high energy security and low GHG emission

“…In spite of high technology cost, the technical merits such as high energy-fuel ratio and no emissions make nuclear energy as an alternative to fossil fuels. Hong et al [41,42] studied the future electricity mix of Australia and South Korea in 2050 based on the electricity demand published [43] and the current growth trends respectively. The energy mix obtained by including and excluding the nuclear option shows the nuclear power is effective with respect to the environmental and economic sustainability of a future electricity network in Australia and South Korea.…”

The Role of Nuclear Power from a System Engineering Standpoint

“…Many works give emphasis on the need of nuclear power to reduce climate change and environmental impacts [1] [2]. The rationale is that nuclear power emits much less greenhouse gases per energy unit than fossil fuels and causes less environmental damage than many renewable power sources.…”