Panelists during the Nuclear Energy and Its Future session discussed how the various obstacles the nuclear industry faced need to be overcome if the energy is to be used to address the threat of climate change. These obstacles included perceived competition with renewable energy sources, political changes, market design, the cost of finance, the perception of nuclear as an outdated technology and misconceptions about radioactive waste.
The panel was moderated by EMEA Power, Gas, Coal and Carbon head Nina Chestney. Centrus Energy Corp president and CEO Dan Poneman stated that even with maximum deployment of wind and solar and battery storage, nuclear was still needed to help achieve the climate targets. World Nuclear Association director Sama Bilbao y León added that the idea that nuclear power was on its way out was wrong.
Nuclear energy is the largest source of low-carbon electricity among OECD nations and the second biggest globally. There were 441 reactors in operation in 31 countries at the end of 2020. Five new units also came online in the UAE, Russia, China and Belarus, with plans for the construction of more than 50 new reactors ongoing.
Bilbao y León also stated that while some countries, including Spain, Belgium and Germany, were thinking of closing down the operations of their current fleets, more countries around the globe were focused on growing their nuclear capacity, including eastern European nations such as Poland. Other nations, including the Netherlands, Finland, France and the United Kingdom, are also focused on continuing and growing their use of nuclear energy.
Additionally, Bilbao y León stated that approaches to regulation needed to be harmonized so that markets could reflect nuclear energy’s true value as a low-carbon baseload power. She explained that it was important to level the playing field in every aspect, including at the market and policy levels, because this would make it easier to see how nuclear energy could aid in the decarbonization of electricity systems and contribute to the economy positively.
With regard to the decreasing cost of wind and solar power being a threat to nuclear, Bilbao y León explained that achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and decarbonization would require the use of all available resources, noting that this wasn’t an either/or situation. She referred to a joint report by the International Energy Agency and the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, which highlighted that the lifetime extension of current nuclear plants was the cheapest way to ensure the generation of low-carbon energy.
With such high praise coming from those respected global bodies, there is no doubt that uranium extractors such as Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU) (TSX: EFR) have their best days ahead of them.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU) (TSX: EFR) are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/UUUU
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