Carbon reduction and nuclear energy policy U-turn: the necessity for an international treaty on small modular reactors (SMR) new nuclear technology

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Název: Carbon reduction and nuclear energy policy U-turn: the necessity for an international treaty on small modular reactors (SMR) new nuclear technology
Autoři: Chinenye Nriezedi-Anejionu
Zdroj: Carbon Management, Vol 15, Iss 1 (2024)
Informace o vydavateli: Taylor & Francis Group, 2024.
Rok vydání: 2024
Sbírka: LCC:Environmental sciences
Témata: Small modular reactors (SMR), new nuclear technologies, nuclear energy, carbon emission, international treaty, green energy, Environmental sciences, GE1-350
Popis: Pressure to reduce carbon emission and meet Net-zero targets is forcing countries to re-introduce nuclear energy in their energy-mix. As a result, many countries have re-classified nuclear energy as a green energy to encourage investments and developments in this sector. Further, advances in nuclear energy technology have led to the development of Small Modular Reactors (SMR), which has continued to stimulate increasing interests from both developed and developing countries. Hence, it is expected that in the coming years, there would be increased deployment of SMR across the globe. This renewed interest in nuclear energy and expected global deployment of the novel SMR, would encounter some legal issues. Therefore, this paper analysed the nuclear energy international legal and regulatory frameworks (relevant nuclear energy conventions and treaties) currently used for the conventional large nuclear power plants (NPPs) to understand how adequate they are for SMR deployment. Various critical gaps were found in the extant laws that could make them not to fully cater for all the peculiarities of the new SMR nuclear technology. This may affect the effective regulation and smooth deployment of SMRs across countries. Therefore, this paper argues that a single specific international treaty on SMR that will cover the regulation of all aspects of SMR deployment, and their peculiarities is highly needed to support countries to justly transition into a Net-zero era.
Druh dokumentu: article
Popis souboru: electronic resource
Jazyk: English
ISSN: 1758-3012
1758-3004
Relation: https://doaj.org/toc/1758-3004; https://doaj.org/toc/1758-3012
DOI: 10.1080/17583004.2024.2396585
Přístupová URL adresa: https://doaj.org/article/9f4a7746b7744d4cb8499e0e943d1946
Přístupové číslo: edsdoj.9f4a7746b7744d4cb8499e0e943d1946
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
Popis
Abstrakt:Pressure to reduce carbon emission and meet Net-zero targets is forcing countries to re-introduce nuclear energy in their energy-mix. As a result, many countries have re-classified nuclear energy as a green energy to encourage investments and developments in this sector. Further, advances in nuclear energy technology have led to the development of Small Modular Reactors (SMR), which has continued to stimulate increasing interests from both developed and developing countries. Hence, it is expected that in the coming years, there would be increased deployment of SMR across the globe. This renewed interest in nuclear energy and expected global deployment of the novel SMR, would encounter some legal issues. Therefore, this paper analysed the nuclear energy international legal and regulatory frameworks (relevant nuclear energy conventions and treaties) currently used for the conventional large nuclear power plants (NPPs) to understand how adequate they are for SMR deployment. Various critical gaps were found in the extant laws that could make them not to fully cater for all the peculiarities of the new SMR nuclear technology. This may affect the effective regulation and smooth deployment of SMRs across countries. Therefore, this paper argues that a single specific international treaty on SMR that will cover the regulation of all aspects of SMR deployment, and their peculiarities is highly needed to support countries to justly transition into a Net-zero era.
ISSN:17583012
17583004
DOI:10.1080/17583004.2024.2396585