Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Resource Use Under Climate Stabilization: Can Nuclear Power Provide Clean Energy?, Ujjayant N. Chakravorty, Bertrand Magne, Michel Moreaux

Ujjayant Chakravorty

The long-term goal of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the stabilization of carbon concentration in the atmosphere. In this paper, we impose a carbon target concentration on a partial equilibrium model of the global energy sector. Specifically, we ask whether nuclear power can provide carbon-free energy as fossil fuel resources become costly due to scarcity and externality costs. We find that nuclear power can reduce the cost of generating clean energy significantly and relatively quickly. However, beyond a few decades the role of nuclear power may be considerably reduced as uranium becomes scarce and renewables become economical. …