Can we save the climate with nuclear power?
A new article finds that, at a global scale, nuclear is in decline and there is little hope that new, current-type nuclear power plants will make a big difference for fighting climate change. While this might not come as a big surprise to experts in the field, our study is the first to apply the technological innovation systems framework to analyze technology decline.
We use a broad range of indicators to assess the performance of nuclear. Among other issues, we show how the actor base and supplier-owner networks have weakened from the 1970s till today, how expectations have lowered and how cost and time overruns made nuclear a very risky investment. A key driver for nuclear decline is the increasing competition from renewable energies with rapid cost and performance improvements.
The Download article was authored by Jochen Markard, Nuno Bento, Noah Kittner and Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez and published in Energy Research and Social Science.