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Life cycle energy and greenhouse gas emissions of nuclear energy: A review

AuteurManfred Lenzen, Elsevier
6-01-2-15-45.pdf
Datumapril 2008
Classificatie 6.01.2.15/45 (KE & BROEIKAS - ALGEMEEN KLIMAAT & CO2 REDUCTIE)
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Uit de publicatie:

                                               Available online at www.sciencedirect.com




                                          Energy Conversion and Management 49 (2008) 2178–2199
                                                                                                                   www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman




      Life cycle energy and greenhouse gas emissions of nuclear energy:
                                  A review
                                                             Manfred Lenzen *
            ISA, Centre for Integrated Sustainability Analysis, The University of Sydney, Physics Building A28, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia

                                                    Received 13 June 2007; accepted 31 January 2008
                                                             Available online 8 April 2008




Abstract

   The increased urgency of dealing with mitigation of the looming climate change has sparked renewed interest in the nuclear energy
option. There exists a substantial stream of research on the amount of embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions associated with
nuclear generated electricity. While conventional fossil fuelled power plants cause emissions almost exclusively from the plant site, the
majority of greenhouse gas emissions in the nuclear fuel cycle are caused in processing stages upstream and downstream from the plant.
This paper distils the findings from a comprehensive literature review of energy and greenhouse gas emissions in the nuclear fuel cycle
and determines some of the causes for the widely varying results.
   The most popular reactor types, LWR and HWR, need between 0.1 and 0.3 kWhth, and on average about 0.2 kWhth for every kWh of
electricity generated. These energy intensities translate into greenhouse gas intensities for LWR and HWR of between 10 and 130 g CO2-
e/kWhel, with an average of 65 g CO2-e/kWhel.
   While these greenhouse gases are expectedly lower than those of fossil technologies (