Climate change and nuclear power 2012

Nuclear power has the potential to continue to play a significant role in the effort to limit future GHG emissions while meeting global energy needs. Nuclear power plants produce virtually no GHG emissions during their operation and only very small amounts on a life cycle basis. This report summarizes nuclear power’s potential role in mitigating global climate change. It also highlights nuclear power’s contribution to addressing development and environment challenges, as well as its current status, including the issues of cost, safety, waste management and nonproliferation. Nuclear power’s current — and potential future — contribution to meeting the twin challenges of climate change and energy poverty make it especially important to deal effectively with any concerns about nuclear power.