Renewables offer a surer course to low carbon energy than nuclear, according to a new study.

A study led by the University of Sussex (UoS), in the U.K., has found renewables up to seven times more effective at reducing carbon emissions than nuclear power. The paper concluded nuclear could no longer be considered an effective low carbon energy technology, and suggests that countries aiming to rapidly and cost-effectively reduce their energy emissions should prioritize renewables.

The study, published today in Nature Energy, considers three hypotheses: Firstly, that emissions decline the more a country adopts nuclear; secondly, that emissions decline the more a country adopts renewables; and thirdly, that nuclear and renewables are ‘mutually exclusive’ options that tend to crowd each other out at an energy system level. The hypotheses were tested against 25 years’ worth of electricity-production and emissions data from 123 countries.

The UoS study found little correlation between relative nuclear electricity production and CO₂ emissions per capita but did observe a linkage with the per-capita GDP of the nations studied. Countries with high per-capita GDP saw some emissions reduction with increased use of nuclear power, said the researchers, but regions with lower GDP saw CO₂ emissions rise with the use of nuclear.

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