To achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, the United States needs to build at least 31 new nuclear power plants each year, making it impossible to abandon fossil fuels with nuclear energy.
It is necessary to build 881 new nuclear power plants by 2050, but no new nuclear unit has been built in the last ten years, according to Donn Dеars.
Donn Dears is a retired senior executive of GE, specializing in power generation, with extensive international experience.
The material explained that 304 new nuclear power plants need to be built in 2021 to replace all electricity produced by fossil fuels, as the amount of energy from fossil fuels is 2,512 billion kWh.
There are currently 94 nuclear power plants in the United States, producing 18.9% of the 4.116 billion kWh. On average, each existing NPP will produce 8.3 billion kWh in 2021.
Also, by 2050, 497 new nuclear power plants are needed to power all battery-powered vehicles (BEVs) and heat homes instead of natural gas.
“The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has determined that total electricity consumption will double if all light vehicles are BEVs and homes rely on electricity for heating. Hydropower cannot be doubled, and without increasing other renewable sources, the additional electricity needed to produce nuclear energy will be equal to the amount produced by all methods in 2021, ie 4.116 billion kWh, "- said in a statement.
80 new NPPs are needed to produce enough hydrogen to meet zero carbon requirements. After all, the cement industry additionally needs carbon capture and sequestration technologies.
The total number of new nuclear power plants to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 is 881.
However, NPPs are planned to be shut down from 2032 if their operating licenses are not renewed and all existing nuclear power plants are closed by 2064.
Deers noted that estimates of the number of new nuclear power plants did not include additional capacity to replace any shutdowns by 2050.
The service life of wind and photovoltaic energy is 20 years.
This means that:
- All 54,244 wind turbines and all solar panels installed by 2022 will also have to be replaced by additional nuclear power plants by 2050.
- All wind turbines and all solar panels installed by 2030 will also have to be replaced by additional nuclear power plants by 2050.
These additional nuclear power plants were not included in the above calculations.
We will remind, The United States and the European Commission have issued a joint statement on the European energy security.
As EcoPoliticа reported earlier, in the EU decided to recognize green gas and nuclear energy.
