Sustainability Assessment of Nuclear Power: An Integrated Approach (SPRIng)

21世纪初，无论是在英国还是在国际上，能源政策都回到了政治议程上。对与能源生产有关的环境、经济和社会问题(气候变化、碳氢化合物资源枯竭、公众对科学技术的信任度下降和能源价格上涨)的日益关注导致对更广泛的能源领域和个别能源技术的重新评估。将各种核电备选方案重新列入正在积极考虑的候选技术只是这一变化的一个因素。核能的一个潜在优势是，它可能有助于我们减少二氧化碳排放，从而缓解一些对气候变化的担忧，然而，与其他发电方案相比，核能方案的整体可持续性还远不清楚。健康和安全、投资风险、安全、公众信任和认知等问题对于理解核能发电的全面可持续影响也很重要。此外，核电行业面临许多不确定因素，包括财务、技术和监管。退役和高水平废物处理是存在这些不确定性的领域的主要例子。公众对核能的总体态度从矛盾到消极不等；然而，公众对全球变暖的影响的认识和担忧日益增长，这可能开始影响公众舆论的变化。因此，任何关于核电未来的决定都需要考虑这些和其他相关问题，采取综合、平衡和公正的方法来评估核电的相对环境、经济、社会和政治可持续性。本项目建议开发这样一种综合方法，并将其应用于相对于其他能源选择的核电的可持续性评估。该项目的主要目标是：1.为能源选择的可持续性评估制定一个严格、有力和透明的多标准决策支持框架；2.在综合能源系统内对核选择进行可持续性评估；3.与相关利益攸关方接触并向其通报研究结果。

The early years of the 21st century have seen energy policy return to the political agenda both in the UK and internationally. Growing concerns about environmental, economic and social issues associated with energy production (climate change, the depletion of hydrocarbon resources, declining public trust in science and technology and increasing energy prices) have led to a reappraisal of the wider energy scene and of individual energy technologies. The return of various nuclear power options to the list of candidate technologies being actively considered is but one element of this change. One potential advantage of nuclear power is that it may help us to reduce CO2 emissions and therefore mitigate some of the climate change concerns, However, it is far from clear how sustainable the nuclear option is overall, compared to other generating options. Issues such as health and safety, investment risks, security, public trust and perception are also important for understanding of the full sustainability implications of nuclear generation. Furthermore, the nuclear power industry is faced with many uncertainties, including financial, technical and regulatory. Decommissioning and high-level waste disposal are prime examples of areas where these uncertainties exist. The public attitude toward nuclear power in general ranges from ambivalent to negative; there is, however, a growing public awareness and concern about the impacts of global warming which may start to influence the change in public opinion. Therefore, any decisions about the future of nuclear power will need to take into account these and other relevant issues, taking an integrated, balanced and impartial approach to evaluating the relative environmental, economic, social and political sustainability of nuclear power.This project proposes to develop such an integrated approach and apply it to sustainability appraisals of nuclear power relative to other energy options. The main objectives of the project are:1. development of a rigorous, robust and transparent multicriteria decision-support framework for sustainability assessment of energy options;2. sustainability assessments of the nuclear option within an integrated energy system;3. engagement with and communication of the results of research to relevant stakeholders.The outputs of the project will help to inform the debate on the future of nuclear power in the UK.