Assessing the Impact of Nuclear Retirements on the U.S. Power Sector

James Richards; Wesley Cole

doi:10.1016/j.tej.2017.10.007

Assessing the Impact of Nuclear Retirements on the U.S. Power Sector

James Richards, Wesley Cole

Strategic Energy Analysis Center

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Scopus Citations

Abstract

This work utilizes the Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) model to analyze the impacts of four nuclear retirement scenarios of the U.S. electricity sector, from nuclear plant lifetimes of 50 to 80 years. The analysis finds that longer nuclear lifetimes decrease the amount of renewable and natural gas capacity. Longer nuclear lifetimes also resulted in lower cumulative and annual carbon emissions, lower transmission builds, and higher energy curtailment and water usage.

Original language	American English
Pages (from-to)	14-21
Number of pages	8
Journal	Electricity Journal
Volume	30
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2017.10.007 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2017.10.007
State	Published - Nov 2017

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier Inc.

NREL Publication Number

NREL/JA-6A20-68926

Keywords

Capacity
Emissions
Expansion
Nuclear power
Retirements

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abstract = "This work utilizes the Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) model to analyze the impacts of four nuclear retirement scenarios of the U.S. electricity sector, from nuclear plant lifetimes of 50 to 80 years. The analysis finds that longer nuclear lifetimes decrease the amount of renewable and natural gas capacity. Longer nuclear lifetimes also resulted in lower cumulative and annual carbon emissions, lower transmission builds, and higher energy curtailment and water usage.",

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AB - This work utilizes the Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) model to analyze the impacts of four nuclear retirement scenarios of the U.S. electricity sector, from nuclear plant lifetimes of 50 to 80 years. The analysis finds that longer nuclear lifetimes decrease the amount of renewable and natural gas capacity. Longer nuclear lifetimes also resulted in lower cumulative and annual carbon emissions, lower transmission builds, and higher energy curtailment and water usage.

KW - Capacity

KW - Emissions

KW - Expansion

KW - Nuclear power

KW - Retirements

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Assessing the Impact of Nuclear Retirements on the U.S. Power Sector

Abstract

Bibliographical note

NREL Publication Number

Keywords

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