Nuclear Power and Climate Change

This document is a 2007 web exchange between Prof. Steve Berry, Peter Bradford, and Amory Lovins regarding the viability and role of nuclear power in mitigating climate change. The participants debate the economic competitiveness of nuclear energy versus energy efficiency and 'micropower' (distributed renewables), the risks of proliferation and waste, and the energy needs of rapidly developing nations like China and India.

• Amory Lovins argues that nuclear power is a 'market loser' and is economically uncompetitive compared to energy efficiency ('negawatts') and micropower. He notes that in 2006, global nuclear capacity shrank by 0.43 GW, while photovoltaics installed 1.74 GW. He claims that micropower added four times the electricity and 8-11 times the capacity that nuclear power added globally in 2005.
• Peter Bradford contends that the 'nuclear renaissance' in the U.S. is driven by government subsidies rather than market viability. He highlights that while Congress authorized $4 billion in loan guarantees for low-carbon technologies under the 2005 Energy Policy Act, the amount sought by the nuclear industry alone approached $50 billion, suggesting that private capital is unwilling to finance these projects due to high risk.
• Steve Berry argues that nuclear power is a necessary component of a global energy strategy to support the growth of developing nations. He asserts that energy efficiency alone cannot level off the total energy needs of China and India and that nuclear power would be at least as cheap as fossil-generated power if the costs of carbon emissions were internalized through taxes or 'cap and trade'.
• The exchange discusses the 'wedge' concept from a Princeton study, which suggests that a worldwide tripling of nuclear power would contribute at most one 'wedge' (a reduction of 25 billion tons of CO2 emissions over 50 years). Bradford argues that such a scale-up is unrealistic and would require massive infrastructure for fuel enrichment and waste repositories.
• Concerns are raised regarding nuclear proliferation and safety. Bradford mentions that the U.S.-India nuclear agreement and the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership undermine nonproliferation efforts. Berry, conversely, claims that modern light water reactors are safer and more reliable than those from the 1960s and 1970s, featuring inherent gravity-driven self-quenching.

APA

Berry, S., Bradford, P., & Lovins, A. B. (2007). Nuclear Power and Climate Change. RMI. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_C07-09_NuclearPwrandClimate.pdf

Chicago

Berry, Steve, Peter Bradford, and Amory B. Lovins. Nuclear Power and Climate Change. RMI, 2007. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_C07-09_NuclearPwrandClimate.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Berry |first1=Steve |last2=Bradford |first2=Peter |last3=Lovins |first3=Amory B. |title=Nuclear Power and Climate Change |publisher=RMI |date=2007 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_C07-09_NuclearPwrandClimate.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{berry2007nuclear, author = {Berry, Steve and Bradford, Peter and Lovins, Amory B.}, title = {{Nuclear Power and Climate Change}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2007}, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_C07-09_NuclearPwrandClimate.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }