The results of the research, which has been published in the National Academy of Science of the USA under the title "US nuclear power: The vanishing low-carbon wedge" -'The nuclear power of the USA: the opportunity low in carbon that vanishes' -, are based on the analysis to which 99 nuclear reactors controlled by 30 companies in 30 states of the country were subjected.
As of 2017 there are 34 reactors that have been closed when they reach their useful life, and only two are being built. And this at a time when it is more pressing than ever to tackle the issue of climate change, warns the report.
The nuclear reactor fleet in the United States is made up of large light-water nuclear reactors ('LWR', for its acronym in English). During the last three decades, 20% of the energy generated by the United States has come from these reactors, now outdated and whose maintenance and reconditioning are excessively expensive. Especially if compared to natural gas, much cheaper.
"We are asleep at the wheel on a very, very dangerous highway (...) We really need to open our eyes and study the situation," says Ahmed Abdullah, a professor at the School of Strategy and Global Policy at the University of California at San Diego. one of the authors of the report.
The rest of the researchers warn that the boom in the US industry, which is very polluting, could lead to a significant number of nuclear power plants closing down over the next few years. They explain that the country is at a serious crossroads: either completely abandon nuclear energy or adopt the next generation of small modular reactors, more efficient and whose cost is considerably lower.
The authors of the study warn that this dilemma has been reached not because of the shortcomings of the United States in technical matters, but because of lack of will.
Because of how the energy market is set up, researchers are not convinced that nuclear power will be competitive in the future. At the same time that efforts are being made to improve the capacity of the electric batteries that are used to store solar and wind energy, natural gas is also being promoted a lot.
As of 2018, fossil fuels are responsible for 32% of the energy consumed by the United States. So, in case the collapse of the US nuclear industry ends up being a reality, researchers doubt that the benefits of renewable energy will be enough to fill the gap.
Hence, the conclusions of the report are so clear and premonitory: "It should be of great concern to those who are concerned about climate change that, because of predictable problems that have a solution, the United States has all of them to lose its nuclear power and , therefore, a reef of renewable and low carbon energy in the decades to come ".
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