Nuclear power

Nuclear power

'Renewable energy', as a term in modern usage, was invented just before the energy crisis of 1973.[48] More recent arguments in favor of classifying nuclear power as renewable are based largely on the potential amount of raw materials that may become available for nuclear fission and its low environmental impact. In 1983, the physicist Bernard Cohen calculated the useful lifetime of nuclear power in the billions of years — longer than the life of the sun itself (which ultimately powers other renewables), remarking that this should qualify it as a renewable resource, too.[49] Nuclear energy has also been referred to as "renewable" by the President of the United States George W. Bush[50] and David Sainsbury, former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the House of Lords.[51]
Inclusion of nuclear power under the "renewable energy" classification could render nuclear power projects eligible for development aid under various jurisdictions. However, no legislative body has yet included nuclear energy under any legal definition of "renewable energy sources" for provision of development support (see: Renewable energy development). Similarly, statutory and scientific definitions of renewable energies usually exclude nuclear energy. In England and Wales there is a Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation, which provides support for renewable energy.[52] Nuclear power production was also subsidised by this obligation from 1990 until 2002.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia