Multi-criteria analysis of nuclear power in the global energy system: Assessing trade-offs between simultaneously attainable economic, environmental and social goals

Mariliis Lehtveer; Marek Makowski; Fredrik Hedenus; David McCollum; Manfred Strubegger

doi:10.1016/j.esr.2015.09.004

Multi-criteria analysis of nuclear power in the global energy system: Assessing trade-offs between simultaneously attainable economic, environmental and social goals

Mariliis Lehtveer, Marek Makowski, Fredrik Hedenus, David McCollum, Manfred Strubegger

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

To investigate the complex relationships among the energy-related challenges faced by humanity, we marry a large-scale energy systems model, MESSAGE, with a multi-criteria model analysis tool. Such an approach is applicable to other modelling frameworks and can significantly improve the analysis of multiple goals. We focus our study on nuclear power - a technology viewed differently by different stakeholders. We find that nuclear power plays an important role in global climate change mitigation efforts where energy security and affordability goals take precedence, but that the total amount of nuclear in the system is highly dependent on stakeholders' preferences. We also find synergies among climate mitigation and energy security goals, and also between these two goals and the reduced need for underground carbon storage.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	45-55
Number of pages	11
Journal	Energy Strategy Reviews
Volume	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esr.2015.09.004
State	Published - Jul 1 2015
Externally published	Yes

Funding

The authors thank Volker Krey, Keywan Riahi, Arnulf Grübler, Hans-Holger Rogner, Hongtao Ren, Nils Johnson, Peter Kolp and Nathan D. Peld for their insightful comments on this project and technical advice. Moreover, we thank E.ON and FORMAS for funding this research project, and acknowledge the IIASA Young Scientists Summer Program 2012, which provided the starting point for this work. Finally, we gratefully acknowledge the comments of four anonymous reviewers that have helped us to improve the original version of the paper.

Funders	Funder number
E.ON UK
Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

Keywords

Climate change
Energy system model
Multi-criteria analysis
Nuclear power

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.esr.2015.09.004

Cite this

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abstract = "To investigate the complex relationships among the energy-related challenges faced by humanity, we marry a large-scale energy systems model, MESSAGE, with a multi-criteria model analysis tool. Such an approach is applicable to other modelling frameworks and can significantly improve the analysis of multiple goals. We focus our study on nuclear power - a technology viewed differently by different stakeholders. We find that nuclear power plays an important role in global climate change mitigation efforts where energy security and affordability goals take precedence, but that the total amount of nuclear in the system is highly dependent on stakeholders' preferences. We also find synergies among climate mitigation and energy security goals, and also between these two goals and the reduced need for underground carbon storage.",

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AU - McCollum, David

AU - Strubegger, Manfred

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Multi-criteria analysis of nuclear power in the global energy system: Assessing trade-offs between simultaneously attainable economic, environmental and social goals

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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