TY - JOUR

T1 - Nuclear power is not competitive

T2 - Climate protection in UK and France also viable without it

AU - Lorenz, Casimir

AU - Brauers, Hanna

AU - Gerbaulet, Clemens

AU - Hirschhausen, Christian R. von

AU - Kemfert, Claudia

AU - Kendziorski, Mario

AU - Oei, Pao-Yu

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - The nuclear power industry is faced with profound challenges- not only in Germany, but throughout Europe as well. New nuclear power plants are very expensive to build and even at high carbon prices, nuclear power is not competitive. Nevertheless, the EU reference scenario assumes that within the next three decades, new nuclear power plants will be built with a total capacity of at least 50 gigawatts (GW), and licenses will be renewed for a further 86 GW. Model calculations show that nuclear power would disappear from Europe's power generation mix by 2050 were the decision based on economic factors and cost considerations alone. In Western Europe, the UK and France are still determined to implement their plans to build new nuclear power plants. But the model calculations for these two countries indicate that complete electricity sector decarbonization by 2050 would also be possible without nuclear power.

AB - The nuclear power industry is faced with profound challenges- not only in Germany, but throughout Europe as well. New nuclear power plants are very expensive to build and even at high carbon prices, nuclear power is not competitive. Nevertheless, the EU reference scenario assumes that within the next three decades, new nuclear power plants will be built with a total capacity of at least 50 gigawatts (GW), and licenses will be renewed for a further 86 GW. Model calculations show that nuclear power would disappear from Europe's power generation mix by 2050 were the decision based on economic factors and cost considerations alone. In Western Europe, the UK and France are still determined to implement their plans to build new nuclear power plants. But the model calculations for these two countries indicate that complete electricity sector decarbonization by 2050 would also be possible without nuclear power.

KW - Economics

KW - nuclear power

KW - Europe

KW - UK

KW - France

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 6

SP - 505

EP - 512

JO - DIW Economic Bulletin

JF - DIW Economic Bulletin

SN - 2192-7219

IS - 44

ER -