The potential of fission nuclear power in resolving global climate change under the constraints of nuclear fuel resources and once-through fuel cycles

Nuclear fission is receiving new attention as a developed source of carbon-free energy. A much larger number of nuclear reactors would be needed for a major impact on carbon emission. The crucial question is whether it can be done without increasing the risk of nuclear proliferation. Specifically, can a larger nuclear share in world energy production, well above the present 6%, be achieved in the next few decades without adding the proliferation-sensitive technologies of reprocessing spent fuel and recycling plutonium to the problems of the unavoidable use of enrichment technology? The answer depends on the available uranium resources. We first looked for the maximum possible nuclear build-up in the 2025–2065 period under the constraints of the estimated uranium resources and the use of once-through nuclear fuel technology. Our results show that nuclear energy without reprocessing could reduce carbon emission by 39.6% of the total reduction needed to bring the WEO 2009 Reference Scenario prediction of total GHG emissions in 2065 to the level of the WEO 450 Scenario limiting global temperature increase to 2 °C. The less demanding strategy of the nuclear replacement of all non-CCS coal power plants retiring during the 2025–2065 period would reduce emission by 26.1%.