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Nuclear is on the front-line of climate change – and not in a good way.

 Presentation at the SGR Responsible Science conference, 19.10.2022, by Dr.
Paul Dorfman (University of Sussex). Climate models have run hot. As
knowledge of enhanced climate sensitivity and polar ice melt-rate evolves,
it has become clear that sea-level rise is significantly faster than
previously thought, resulting in more frequent and destructive storms,
storm surge, severe precipitation, and flooding. With rare extreme events
today becoming the norm in the future, existing risk mitigation measures
become increasingly obsolete. The corollary to this analysis is that
present and planned UK coastal nuclear installations will be at significant
risk. In other words, nuclear’s lower-carbon electricity USP sits in the
context of the much larger picture – that UK coastal nuclear will be one
of the first, and most significant, casualties to ramping climate impact.
Put simply, UK nuclear is quite literally on the front-line of climate
change – and not in a good way. UK civil nuclear infrastructure is
profoundly unprepared for climate impact and there is a very high
probability that reactors and their associated high-level spent fuel stores
will become unfit for purpose, and much sooner than expected.

 Scientists for Global Responsibility 20th Oct 2022

October 23, 2022 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized