Gellerman, B. (2019, September 17). To Combat Climate Change, Do We Need The Nuclear Option? Retrieved from https://www.wbur.org/earthwhile/2019/09/17/nuclear-power-future-history-controversy.

 

Massachuests shutdown a nuclear reactor known as Pilgrim. This shutdown is following a trend that is sweeping across the U.S.; the decommissioning of reactors/premature shutdowns. Even with all of the problems that come with nuclear reactors, the carbon-free energy produced is more than wind and solar combined. The issue lies within the economics of building and running a reactor. Natural gas the cheaper option and it is being widely utilized for our electric appliances. Continuing this use of natural gas will make solving climate change more difficult. The resistance from investors to continue funding plants is due to the cheaper renewable options like wind and solar; still none of the existing solutions can compare to nuclear in terms of carbon-free energy.

Nuclear power has proven its effectiveness at producing clean power, but the technology is still lacking. Decreasing pollutants -more specifically carbon- in the atmosphere is the ultimate goal, but not for companies or investors. We have seen changes that have pushed towards renewable energy, but it isn’t more than just publically appealing for companies. This trend of moving away from nuclear energy will be detrimental in the push against climate change; it is not easy to get support for technology that is unreliable an unresilient. For now we must focus on constructing smaller plants that have a small build time; thus building the credibility of nuclear power.