Pardee Fellow Presents on Nuclear Energy at HKS

Pardee Center Research Fellow Moeed Yusuf presented his Pardee Paper (# 3) “Does Nuclear Energy Have a Future?” at the expert lecture series at Harvard Kennedy School’s Energy and Environment Professional Interest Council. The event was held on December 2, 2009 at the Kennedy School itself.

Considering the potential for nuclear energy to play a larger role in the future of energy, Yusuf said it seems unlikely that it will become a significant new source of energy because of economic, technology and security concerns. Since no new nuclear plants have been built in more than 20 years, it is very difficult to tell with any accuracy how much building such plants will now cost, he said, adding that past nuclear plant construction was characterized by huge cost-overruns and significant delays making potential future investors wary. In addition, only six countries – the U.S. and five eastern countries — currently have the technical capability of building and operating nuclear plants while many thousands of new plants would be required to help meet current energy demand.

The accidents at the Three Mile Island plant in the U.S.and the Chernobyl plant in Russia have made safety a major issue, influencing public perception about the risks of nuclear power as well as the potential costs, as stringent safety measures also increase the costs. But the biggest issue facing nuclear power is the security issue according to Yusuf. The threat of nuclear weapons proliferation is a paramount concern causing countries to worry about who has nuclear energy capability, thrusting nuclear power more than other energy options into the realm of geopolitics.

The Pardee Paper was well received by the audience and generated a lively discussion. It is available for download here.