Nuclear power ‘at risk from climate change’

Climate change poses a serious threat to the future safety of nuclear power plants, a UK-based researcher has warned in a respected science journal. Natalie Kopytko says there are "serious doubts" that nuclear can cope with our changing global weather.

Often touted as the solution to global warming by pundits, including recent convert George Monbiot, nuclear power could instead be one of its first victims, writes Kopytko of the University of York's environment department in the New Scientist.

Nuclear power plants are vulnerable because they depend on access to huge volumes of water which they need to cool their reactors - and to power in order to pump that water. It was after both these vital links were severed in an earthquake and tsunami that the Fukushima 1 plant in Japan went so disastrously awry.

While the explosions and leaks at Fukushima in Japan were caused by a once-in-a-lifetime double catastrophe, similar disasters could be caused by rising sea levels, rising temperatures and unpredictable weather patterns, Kopytko believes.

While all nuclear power plants are constructed to withstand a "certain level" of flooding, none have been built with increased flooding caused by rising sea levels or increased rainfall in mind.

Further risks are posed by droughts reducing water supply and heat waves increasing the temperature of the water used for cooling.

Rising temperatures have already caused France to relax its rules on safe working temperatures for discharge, while droughts in the US caused legal battles over nuclear plants using the lion's share of water.

Another threat is posed by hurricanes, which can cut power and communication lines and block evacuation routes. And many models of how the world's weather patterns will shift in future years predict a rise in hurricane incidence.

Finally, Kopytko points out that not only are there serious safety concerns but, if the plants themselves are returning hotter and hotter water to the environment, then that must itself be taken into account when assessing their green credentials.

Kopytko accepts that other forms of energy generation are also vulnerable to climate change - but "the bottom line is that if nuclear power is to be used to mitigate the effects of climate change, it must also be capable of adapting to them". ·