There are many reasons to reconsider the future safety and reliability of nuclear power plants due to the effects of climate change. The average life span of a nuclear power plant is fifty years. This means that any new plants must be able to withstand changes that have been forecast for the next fifty years in a rapidly changing world, including the ability to adapt to moderate climate change estimates, since we have already seen average global temperatures that temporarily reached an increase of 1.5 degrees. The severe fluctuations in water scarcity and abundance, together with extreme weather events, are of particular concern in the operation and safety of nuclear power plants.
The Achilles ’ heel of nuclear power is its dependence upon a steady supply of water to regulate the temperature of the reactors. This was the major cause of the problems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan in 2011. I attended a presentation by a company that constructs nuclear power plants. At the end of the presentation, I asked what changes they have made to future power plants to account for current projections of global sea level rise for the next 50 years due to climate change. The answer was not encouraging, since it was simply “none”.
Most of the world’s nuclear power plants are located near the ocean, where they are subject to hurricanes and typhoons. The Fukushima Daiichi facility had a sea wall that was a mere 5.7 meters above average sea level. Ground level at the site was 10 meters above the average sea level. The largest wave of the tsunami was estimated to reach as high as 15 meters above sea level. These waves damaged the seawater pumps that cooled the reactor, as well as the turbine and reactor buildings.
Moving inland to situate power plants near lakes is not much better, as droughts drain large lakes. Lake Mead, on the Nevada-Arizona border, is currently at 34 percent of its capacity. The Arrow Lakes Reservoir in B.C. has fallen to its lowest level in 20 years. More than half of the largest lakes in the world are drying up. Even the Great Lakes are not immune to unusual weather events affecting the flow of water. Water levels in the Great Lakes have been fluctuating. On March 30, 1848, the Niagara Falls ran dry due to an ice dam, when large chunks of lake ice had been driven to the Northeastern tip of Lake Erie, thanks to strong Southwest gale winds during an otherwise normal winter.
The infamous Tornado Alley is shifting east, leaving Southeastern Ontario in its sights. Tornados, Derechos and Solar Flares can disrupt power distribution for hundreds of thousands of households. Downed electrical transmission lines, transformer stations and damaged local power lines wreak havoc that can take weeks to fully restore power. Centralized power generation leaves us more vulnerable to major weather events than we need to be.
Renewable power generation using solar and micro wind turbines at the local level should be encouraged as much as possible. This would both reduce the demand for large power plants and make local power grids more resilient to major weather events.