No nukes in new IPCC report

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has published its AR6 Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2023, calling it their “final warning”. But the authors say “There are multiple, feasible and effective options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to human-caused climate change, and they are available now”.

According to their research, none of these includes nuclear power. Ironically, the report was issued just as the US government approved a massive fossil fuel project in Arctic Alaska, “involving drilling for oil and gas at three sites for multiple decades.” The decision, said Alaskan Indigenous leader, Sonia Ahkivgak, proves the Biden administration’s “call for climate action and the protection of biodiversity is talk, not action.”

The IPCC is right on target as it identifies wind and solar as the clear winners when it comes to climate crisis abatement. As climate scientists clearly understand, even a cursory glance at the empirical data shows beyond dispute that including nuclear in the mix diverts resources and time away from developing the solar and wind remedies that would actually work. We could get more carbon reductions faster for the same investment in renewables that our governments insist on squandering instead on nuclear power.

As Stanford civil and environmental engineer, Amory Lovins writes so succinctly: “Most US nuclear reactors now cost more just to run – including big repairs that trend upward with age – than their output can earn. They also cost more just to run than providing the same services by building and operating new renewables, or by using electricity more efficiently. (Headline photo: Matt Hrkac/Wikimedia Commons)

More