기후 탄력적 전력 시스템의 원자력 (Nuclear Energy in Climate Resilient Power Systems)
본 보고서는 탈탄소화되고 기후 탄력적인 에너지 시스템을 지원하고자 원자력의 잠재력을 조사합니다.
Nuclear energy can facilitate the integration of high shares of renewables and support long term energy security. The climate resilience of the global nuclear fleet makes it an excellent complement to other low carbon energy sources as climate risks increase. Reductions in nuclear output due to cooling water availability and other climate events are small — in 2022 these energy losses accounted for 0.3% of global nuclear generation. Historical data show that extreme events such as heat waves, storms and droughts have a minimal impact on the operations of nuclear plants, making nuclear energy a key partner with renewables in decarbonized energy systems. Despite extreme heat and aridity, French nuclear production losses attributed to environmental reasons in 2022 totalled 501 gigawatt-hours (GWh), less than 0.2% of annual production from the affected power stations. The spring of 2022 was characterized by record low river flow rates and was followed by the second hottest summer on record in France.
Two forces — both growing exponentially — will require a complete rethink of how to ensure continuous operations of the world’s energy system. Increasingly frequent extreme weather conditions and rapidly growing shares of renewable energy generation introduce an unprecedented level of volatility and uncertainty in power markets. Concurrent climate change induced threats escalating at pace and in intensity have growing implications for the supply, demand and infrastructure of the world’s energy system. Climate change will impact every aspect of the energy sector: the output of each energy generating technology, the volume of energy demanded and the combined physical and nonphysical infrastructure that ensures safe and reliable operations during extreme weather events. Together these two forces place a growing premium on the concept of climate resilient energy, or the ability of an energy technology to consistently meet demand amid a fluctuating energy supply. Extreme heat conditions, heavy precipitation, droughts, coastal and river floods, and tropical cyclones will make the design and the implementation of climate resilience plans for the global energy system even more complex, but all the more necessary. Ensuring climate resilience of energy systems will require both actions to mitigate the impact of climate change — deploying climate resilient energy technologies to act as a stabilizing mechanism — and adaptation measures like technological improvements to support operations in a climate volatile future. Nuclear power has the potential to support decarbonized, climate resilient energy systems.