A new hope for nuclear?

Brutschin, E. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7040-3057 (2023). A new hope for nuclear? In: Handbook on the Geopolitics of the Energy Transition. Eds. Scholten, Daniel, pp. 372-386 Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 9781800370432 10.4337/9781800370432.00027.

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Since its early beginnings nuclear technology has brought hopes about solving energy security problems, and more recently, it is also framed as a key technology to decarbonize the electricity system. Yet more prominent are the fears linked to nuclear proliferation, nuclear accidents, and nuclear waste that often put this technology at the bottom of the list in terms of public acceptance. The future prospects of nuclear technology are highly uncertain. This chapter frames technology diffusion prospects as a combination of technology characteristics, state characteristics (i.e., what type of countries are interested and capable of deploying nuclear technology), and global geopolitics. It is argued that the specific constellation of these three levers at a given point in time can help us gain a better understanding about the future prospects of a technology. Nuclear technology is generally considered lumpy and complex; it has many different types of dependencies along the whole supply chain cycle, and the issue of nuclear waste is yet not resolved. At the same time, there are many new rapidly growing countries that are interested in the scale-up of clean technologies. Additionally, the geopolitical situation in the last decade has been marked by many uncertainties, which might bring energy security to the top of political agenda. By taking these different trends into consideration, this chapter concludes that while a global revival of nuclear technology is unlikely, we might still observe the growing importance of nuclear technology in certain regions.

Item Type:	Book Section
Research Programs:	Energy, Climate, and Environment (ECE) Energy, Climate, and Environment (ECE) > Transformative Institutional and Social Solutions (TISS)
Depositing User:	Luke Kirwan
Date Deposited:	31 Mar 2025 13:02
Last Modified:	31 Mar 2025 13:02
URI:	https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/20491

Actions (login required)

View Item