Sergey Kirienko: Nuclear power plants prevented 65 Gt of CO2 emissions
ROSATOM Director General Sergey Kirienko announced that «Nuclear energy has the potential to become the greenest in the world» at the plenary session titled « Nuclear Power as a Basis for Zero Carbon Energy Balance» at the VIII International Forum ATOMEXPO 2016.
Sergey Kirienko noted that nuclear energy plays a critical role in implementing the Paris Climate Change Conference resolutions. «According to International Energy Agency data, the global nuclear power plant fleet has prevented 65 Gt of CO2 emissions over the past 45 years» stated the ROSATOM Director General. He also added that Russian NPPs annually prevent 811 million tons of CO2 emissions, which equal to total emissions from all the automobiles in Russia over a 6-year period.
The head of ROSATOM additionally highlighted the substantial benefits of nuclear energy in the context of energy potential. Mr. Kirienko said: «98% of global energy reserves are concentrated in 3 elements: uranium 238, deuterium and thorium. All other resources – gas, coal and renewables account for the remaining 2%. It proves that nuclear energy has enormous potential.»
According to Sergey Kirienko a critical issue for the environment is reprocessing and recycling spent nuclear fuel. This issue is being resolved through ROSATOM’s projects aimed at building and operating fast reactors and the «Proryv» project. Successful implementation of this technology will allow nuclear energy to both mitigate CO2 emissions and produce almost no radioactive waste.