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Nuclear Development 2007 Risks and Benefits of Nuclear Energy In the context of sustainable development policies, decision making in the energy sector should be based on carefully designed trade-offs which take into account, insofar as feasible, all of the alternative options’ advantages and drawbacks from the economic, environmental and social viewpoints. This report examines various aspects of nuclear and other energy chains for generating electricity, and provides illustrative examples of quantitative and qualitative indicators for those chains with regard to economic Energy of Nuclear Benefits and Risks competitiveness, environmental burdens (such as air emissions and solid waste streams) and social Risks and Benefits aspects (including employment and health impacts). of Nuclear Energy This report will be of interest to policy makers and analysts in the energy and electricity sectors. It offers authoritative data and references to published literature on energy chain analysis which can be used in support of decision making. www.nea.fr (66 2007 07 1 P) € 24 -:HSTCQE=UXZZVZ: ISBN 978-92-64-03551-5 NUCLEAR•ENERGY•AGENCY Nuclear Development Risks and Benefits of Nuclear Energy © OECD 2007 NEA No. 6242 NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT The OECD is a unique forum where the governments of 30 democracies work together to address the economic, social and environmental challenges of globalisation. The OECD is also at the forefront of efforts to understand and to help governments respond to new developments and concerns, such as corporate governance, the information economy and the challenges of an ageing population. The Organisation provides a setting where governments can compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practice and work to co-ordinate domestic and international policies. The OECD member countries are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Commission of the European Communities takes part in the work of the OECD. OECD Publishing disseminates widely the results of the Organisation’s statistics gathering and research on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as the conventions, guidelines and standards agreed by its members. * * * This work is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Organisation or of the governments of its member countries. NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) was established on 1st February 1958 under the name of the OEEC European Nuclear Energy Agency. It received its present designation on 20th April 1972, when Japan became its first non-European full member. NEA membership today consists of 28 OECD member countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Korea, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Commission of the European Communities also takes part in the work of the Agency. The mission of the NEA is: to assist its member countries in maintaining and further developing, through international co-operation, the scientific, technological and legal bases required for a safe, environmentally friendly and economical use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, as well as to provide authoritative assessments and to forge common understandings on key issues, as input to government decisions on nuclear energy policy and to broader OECD policy analyses in areas such as energy and sustainable development. Specific areas of competence of the NEA include safety and regulation of nuclear activities, radioactive waste management, radiological protection, nuclear science, economic and technical analyses of the nuclear fuel cycle, nuclear law and liability, and public information. The NEA Data Bank provides nuclear data and computer program services for participating countries. In these and related tasks, the NEA works in close collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, with which it has a Co-operation Agreement, as well as with other international organisations in the nuclear field. © OECD 2007 No reproduction, copy, transmission or translation of this publication may be made without written permission. Applications should be sent to OECD Publishing: [email protected] or by fax (+33-1) 45 24 99 30. Permission to photocopy a portion of this work should be addressed to the Centre Français d’exploitation du droit de Copie (CFC), 20 rue des Grands-Augustins, 75006 Paris, France, fax (+33-1) 46 34 67 19, ([email protected]) or (for US only) to Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive Danvers, MA 01923, USA, fax +1 978 646 8600, [email protected]. Cover credits: Almaraz NPP and ENRESA (photos). FOREWORD This report has been prepared by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Secretariat, with the assistance of a consultant and under the guidance of the NEA Committee for Technical and Economic Studies on Nuclear Energy Development and the Fuel Cycle (NDC). It results from a comprehensive literature survey covering national and international studies on economic, environmental and social aspects of energy chains for generating electricity. The data presented have been selected on the basis of the robustness of the studies which produced them and on the scientific and technical qualifications of their authors. They are by no means exhaustive, but address a broad range of issues and illustrate the types of information available to policy makers. Emphasis is placed in the report on methodological approaches and illustrative results, aiming at providing policy makers with information and tools that they could use in support of decision making. Recognising that decision making requires not only reliable data but also priority setting based on the specific goals of national policies, the report does not provide an assessment of alternative options but rather an overview of the background materials on which assessments could be based. The report benefited from inputs, comments and overall review provided by NDC members. However, its content reflects the views of the Secretariat and not necessarily those of all member country governments or their representatives in the Committee. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD................................................................................................................................. 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY........................................................................................................... 9 1. INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................... 13 1.1 Preamble ................................................................................................................ 13 1.2 Overall objective.................................................................................................... 14 1.3 Basic approach and scope...................................................................................... 14 1.4 Structure and content of the report ........................................................................ 14 2. NUCLEAR ENERGY OTULOOK.......................................................................................... 17 2.1 Status and trends.................................................................................................... 17 2.2 Nuclear development scenarios ............................................................................. 20 2.3 Implications for climate policy, role of carbon-free technologies......................... 26 2.4 The way forward.................................................................................................... 27 References ....................................................................................................................... 28 3. METHODOLOGY AND ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK .................................................. 29 3.1 Sustainable development concept.......................................................................... 29 3.2 Indicators ............................................................................................................... 30 3.3 Framework and indicators for the energy/electricity sector .................................. 32 References ....................................................................................................................... 35 4. ILLUSTRATIVE RESULTS OF ASSESSMENTS................................................................ 37 4.1 Introduction............................................................................................................ 37 4.2 Economic indicators .............................................................................................. 38 4.3 Environmental indicators....................................................................................... 47 4.4 Social indicators....................................................................................................
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