Nuclear power and the environment

Nuclear power can reduce emissions and maintain a strong economy: Rating Australia’s optimal future electricity-generation mix by technologies and policies

“…We selected the cost and sustainability indicators for the MCDMA carefully based on the guidelines of the International Atomic Energy Agency in cooperation with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the International Energy Agency (IEA), Eurostat and the European Environment Agency (EEA) [37], which are relevant to the context of Australia. These were: (1) levelized cost of electricity (which is the minimum cost of electricity at which an electricity producer can sell and still secure an economic return), including carbon pricing between 2013 ($23 tonne CO 2 -e À1 ) and 2050 ($140 tonne CO 2 -e À1 ) [24], and additional costs [31], (2) greenhouse-gas emissions [38], (3) air pollutants Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, 2009 [22,[39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48], (4) land transformation [39,46,[49][50][51][52][53], (5) freshwater consumption [41,48,50,[54][55][56][57][58][59], (6) safety costs [21,60,61] (the probability of severe accidents and the impact of them), (7) solid-waste generation [41,48,[62][63][64][65]…”

Effect of minor additions on structure and volatilization loss in simulated nuclear borosilicate glasses

“…The efficient processing, immobilization and long-term storage of high level nuclear waste (HLW) is currently one of the most significant problems associated with the use of nuclear power as a serious replacement for fossil fuel-based energy production [1,2]. Of the many possible immobilization methods, vitrification of the waste using a mixed-alkali borosilicate glass waste form (MW), of composition 10.29 mol% Li 2 O, 10.53 mol% Na 2 O, 18.57 mol% B 2 O 3 , 60.61 mol% SiO 2 , is currently the preferred technique for HLW in the UK [3][4][5].…”

Effects of Energy on Pollution: An Overview

“…Furthermore, there is currently no widely agreed-upon method for the efficient management of nuclear waste, making the long-term storage and disposal of radioactive waste problematic concerns. It is essential to address these environmental issues if nuclear energy is to be sustainable and widely accepted during the energy transition (Rashad and Hammad, 2000). Safety Challenges: Because nuclear accidents can have devastating repercussions, safety in the production of nuclear electricity is of utmost importance (Sagan, 1993).…”