“In conditions of developed countries nuclear energy would be effective even without getting the kind of preferences granted to renewable energy”

Nuclear power engineering is an inalienable part of the global energy system, which is geared towards reducing greenhouse emissions. The statement is part of the new technological roadmap prepared by experts of the International Energy Agency and the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The document looks into possible ways to develop nuclear energy in the world after the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan in March 2011 taking into account the economic crisis and its influence on the financing of new projects. The authors of the document believe that the picture will stay positive for nuclear energy in the medium term and the long term despite the negative influence of the Japanese accident on nuclear programs in individual countries. Although in 2013 the share of nuclear power plants in global energy generation dropped by 10% in comparison with 2010 due to the shutdown of all the 48 operational nuclear energy units in Japan, nuclear energy still occupies the second position in low-carbon energy in terms of volume, scientists said. Apart from that, the construction of 72 nuclear reactors across the globe in early 2014 was the largest number registered by the industry in the last 25 years.

The role of nuclear energy in fighting global warming will remain significant in the next few years and may even become more prominent later on. The opinion was voiced by Sergei Kondratyev, sector head at the Economic Department of the think tank Energy and Finance Institute, BelTA has learned. In crisis conditions people turn towards more effective options to avoid losing money or ecological advantages. On one hand, modern nuclear power engineering allows building large and powerful sources of energy. Wind farms and solar power plants need much larger areas to produce comparable amounts of electricity in gigawatt terms. Besides, nuclear energy is easy to dispatch. If we have a look at renewable energy, which is considered promising for the development of the world energy industry, we will see that both solar power and wind power are very hard to control. Besides, nuclear energy boasts considerable technological advances. If the fuel cycle is closed using fast-neutron reactors, it will be possible to greatly expand the raw materials base of the industry. In the distant future totally different possibilities will be opened once thermonuclear fusion is mastered.

Renewable energy is not as green as people prefer it to be. Some researches indicate that, for instance, fish do not take pleasure in being close to wind farms. The fact can damage the fishing industry, which seems important in view of the sanctions. Then birds can be injured if they fly into fan blades. Nuclear energy is free of such problems. I cannot but agree with the statement made by the International Energy Agency and the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which says that market deregulation is a threat to nuclear energy. Market deregulation reduces the planning horizon of the corporate sector. Corporations have to estimate their profits primarily within 24 months. Planning for five years is difficult because the market environment changes rapidly and rules of the game change with it. We can see it if we use the European market as an example. Five years ago the status of heat power generation and nuclear power generation were totally different. Market deregulation forces companies to invest either in subsidized kinds of generation or in those that produce results comparatively fast. Nuclear power generation with its long construction times and long operation times drops off the radar. For now there are no mechanisms to reduce the distortion. However, it would be more effective to give nuclear energy the same kinds of sums that renewable energy gets as subsidies in European countries.

Old European nuclear power plants that have been in use for dozens of years now actually subsidize green energy and they do it not out of the goodness of their hearts. In developed countries nuclear energy would be effective even without receiving the kind of preferences granted to renewable energy. In developing countries like India even if the interest rates on loans needed to build nuclear power plants are low, the government still has to contribute to such projects because the construction of a nuclear power plant takes a long time.