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Nuclear Energy, Economic Growth, and the Environment

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View the page of Nikolaos Fatouros

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Nikos Fatouros suggests nuclear energy usage, is not only a necessary welfare maximizing condition, but also a crucial determinant of economic growth in the long run.

Image courtesy of interviewee. May 28, 2024

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The speaker presents a study focused on nuclear energy's role in the context of climate change and energy production. They highlight that, while alternative energy sources like solar and wind power are commonly discussed for cleaner production, nuclear energy has been largely overlooked in the literature. The research aims to fill this gap by analyzing how integrating nuclear energy into the energy mix can impact economic growth, welfare, and emissions.

Key findings from the study include:

1. **Safety and Efficiency**: Nuclear energy has proven to be safer than other energy forms when considering deaths per energy produced, and it also exhibits low emissions compared to solar and wind energy.

2. **Economic Modeling**: The study introduces a theoretical macroeconomic model that examines the effects of nuclear energy on economic growth, which has been less explored in existing literature, predominantly empirical studies.

3. **Future Outlooks**: The research indicates that nuclear energy should be included in energy policy discussions, particularly as nations seek to balance development with environmental concerns. The results suggest that depending on specific economic contexts, optimal policies around nuclear energy can lead to more sustainable growth without compromising safety.

4. **Environmental Impact**: The environmental K curve theory is discussed, proposing that with the right policies, economic growth can progress without an increase in emissions over time.

5. **Recommendations**: The study advocates for investments in nuclear technology to enhance safety and reduce environmental impacts. It argues that nuclear energy has the potential to contribute significantly to meeting energy needs while addressing climate change, particularly for developing countries.

The overarching conclusion urges policymakers to consider nuclear power as part of the energy transition and to overcome prejudices against it by setting aside emotional biases in favor of rational analysis of its benefits and risks for sustainable development.

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X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

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My motivation behind our study, was the fact that,

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climate change is a really big, issue, in this,

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in this time, like, especially in the start

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of the 21st century.

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However, the main problem that we were having was

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that we are thinking of ways that we can produce, more

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cleanly, I would say,

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and essentially more efficiently as well.

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Uh, but the main thing is that, nuclear energy was kind

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of neglected, in the literature so far

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because, every time the researchers would actually think

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of cleaner and, even efficient ways of producing,

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they would, more specifically think about,

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solar energy or wind generated energy.

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So nuclear energy has been long,

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long collected in the literature,

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and we thought that, this would actually be,

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the main contribution of our paper

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where we would actually be able to explore how

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introducing nuclear energy into the production mix would

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change the results in terms of welfare, in terms of output,

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sp nuclear energy specifically

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because, so when I,

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when we were thinking about this project, I,

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there's a really great dataset.

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Uh, it's called Our World in Bank, our World in Data.

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And, I was actually just looking,

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in some data there.

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And what was really striking to me is that,

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when we compare different types of energy,

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first when it comes to, how dangerous they are,

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nuclear energy was the most safe,

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when the metric is deaths were energy produced.

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So it's not just about the fact

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that we are using less nuclear energy,

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however, even if we take into account the scale

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that we're using it,

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nuclear energy had way less deaths even compared

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to solar panels, at the same time when it comes

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to efficiency.

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And, they're pretty much the same.

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But another striking thing was that, when it comes

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to emissions, it's actually way cleaner compared to either,

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solar energy or wind, or wind generated energy.

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So in that sense, we thought

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that it would be a great idea to explore how would,

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a paradigm using like a typical economic model,

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look like when we are actually introducing nuclear

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energy into the equation.

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The literature in general, in, in economic growth

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and energy, has mainly been revolving around, grid,

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as I said, like solar, solar panels,

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wind generated energy, et cetera.

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There's another stream in the literature

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that has been exploring the effect

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of nuclear energy on economic growth.

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However, this was mainly done empirically.

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So there wasn't really,

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any theoretical macroeconomic model,

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which we would actually try to analyze that channels

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through, nuclear energy could be affecting,

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economic growth.

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So in that sense, what we thought that, our contribution

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of the paper wasn't this contribution

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Was that, we are not only, modeling the,

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situation around,

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the production function when we're introducing nuclear

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energy, but at the same time,

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we're actually laying the theoretical framework

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where other researchers in the future,

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when they doing empirical work,

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they can actually base their analysis on.

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So I think that it was, it was rather crucial,

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but at least we could actually fill

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that void in the literature

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because you have, we have a very broad topic of energy

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and economic growth when it comes to generally green,

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green energy and economic growth.

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We have both theoretical and empirical established,

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but when it comes to the nuclear energy, example,

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we didn't really have the theoretical work

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to back up our findings.

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Actually, we based our analysis on, a really,

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fundamental in the area of, paper of, dar mo

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and golfers and thought, well, when what they're doing is

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that they're analyzing,

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essentially the production function, how would that affect,

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incentives throughout entrepreneurship, et cetera,

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in order to translate that, into economic growth.

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We use that as the foundation.

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What we do is that we're introducing nuclear energy, energy

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to our production function,

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and just by basing following at least their,

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their framework up until some point.

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And that, and I'm gonna explain a bit later about

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what this point is,

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and then we're actually seeing how our results are different

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compared to their paper when we're using nuclear analogy.

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When, the framework becomes really different,

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it becomes really different by the fact that nuclear energy

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is not just, as I said, a bit more efficient.

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It's also cleaner compared to other means of production.

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However, the main difference is

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that it introduces uncertainty into the macroeconomic model,

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because in a way, when we're using nuclear energy,

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of course, in the good times, everything is fine,

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and we're producing, highly,

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and we don't have so many emissions.

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However, the problem is that in case of a natural,

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in case of a disaster, a disaster happening,

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a nuclear disaster happening,

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then we really do have a problem.

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And that introduces uncertainty.

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It's still with a small probability,

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however, this is affecting essentially

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how agents are making decisions.

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Essentially, what we did in the paper was not just,

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trying to see what are, the different results

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that we'll be getting,

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when we're introducing nuclear energy.

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At the same time, we try to replicate,

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at least based on our model, a version

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of the environmental K curve.

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So for the audience that are not familiar

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with the environmental K curve,

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it's essentially a prediction that,

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when countries are growing in the start,

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we're gonna observe some, rapid increase in emissions,

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and then in the, towards the end,

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and when they're actually more developed,

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we should be expecting some reduction in emissions.

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So, the main finding from our paper is

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That it, it really depends on whether

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or not policy makers are adopting optimal policies.

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So in our paper, what we do is that we're trying

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to find those optimal policies,

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and this, of course, defer based on the actual specifics

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and characteristics, characteristics of its economy.

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And that would actually be,

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it would change the parameters

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that we're calibrating within the model.

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And for a different, country,

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we'll be getting different results,

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really different optimal policies.

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And when we're actually implementing those,

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we could actually, be able

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to replicate a different environmental.

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So, in that sense, the main findings were that, first

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of all, nuclear energy belongs in the, production mix.

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So we're not saying that everyone should be using nuclear

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energy no matter what,

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but what we're seeing is that,

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it definitely has a place there

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because we have to realize that it's,

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in many occasions way more efficient.

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It's cleaner than other means of production.

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And what we would actually have to do in order to,

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take into account the risk that comes

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with nuclear energy is essentially work on the,

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technology that, is, helping us produce,

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in a nuclear plant, et cetera, make it safer.

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And if we are actually, if we're actually able to do that,

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then, the actual environmental

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that we'll be observing is essentially, some

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reduction in emissions throughout the

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whole development state.

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So it wouldn't really have to be the case

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that when we are talking about a developing country

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in the start of their development path,

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they would really have to use cheaper

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and dirty means of production,

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because nuclear energy,

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especially if we would actually be able to invest in it,

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it might a case that's actually cheaper and safer

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and more efficient compared to other means of production.

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So that would actually be able,

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that would be a possible way of us,

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of helping us mitigating the climate change issue.

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When it comes to the, to the conclusions, I think that,

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as I said earlier, of course, the main finding was

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that nuclear energy belongs to the, to the policy mix.

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Uh, another thing is that,

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it really depends on the specific

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characteristics of an economy.

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To give you an example, I wouldn't really,

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I have them, have the example of Canada in my mind

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because I have done my page in Canada.

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And what was really striking for me was

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that there was no earthquake ever.

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So I'm originally from Greece, so you know, I was,

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when I was growing up, I was really used to having lots

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of earthquakes once in a while.

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So in the case of Canada, for example,

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when we don't really have, either,

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earthquakes or either some other possible sources of danger

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where we might have serious considerations on using,

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on producing nuclear energy, I think that in cases

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Like that, it would be ideal.

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And, in the, with the example of Japan, it's a country

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that is basing their production function on nuclear energy,

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and production of nuclear energy, despite the fact

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that they are actually having this, massive earthquakes.

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And essentially we would be having, depending on, you know,

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some specific Caucasians, we, it could be the case

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that this doesn't go well, but for the most part, just

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because they're, we see that they keep using it.

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At least to me, that's evidence that, if that works

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for Japan, it can actually work for other countries as well

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where they don't have, these things to worry about.

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So when it comes to the final conclusions,

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and, what I would actually, what I think

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that is the final message of the paper is that,

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as economic agents, sometimes we're, we're not

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as rational as economic models,

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assume must to be, right?

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So, we're not really think about,

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we're not really thinking about the, cost

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and benefits in real time.

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But what we do is that sometimes we're,

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we have this prejudice disease, we have these thoughts,

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we have, we're acting on emotion.

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So essentially the main conclusion there is that I think

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that, we should actually set that aside for a bit,

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because this, at at least nuclear, it could be a way

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that we can actually, deal

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with the climate change issue.

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Again, I'm not saying that it's perfect,

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it's far from perfect, in fact,

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and there are many ways that we are actually,

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we can actually make it not only safer, but also cleaner,

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because even nuclear energy,

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energy has some environmental impact

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because we haven't really found efficient ways of dealing

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with waste, that comes with this production, right?

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So, when it comes to, areas of future research,

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I think that now that we have at least some,

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theoretical, macroeconomic model

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that we can actually think about different channels, I think

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that, it would be ideal for us.

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And now as the years go by

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and we have more data to essentially explore

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and empirically what is indeed happening with nuclear

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and how it does affect, our production functions,

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that's actually one

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and two, essentially just,

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motivate policy makers to invest in nuclear energy,

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at least in a way that they can make,

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we can make it not only safer,

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but also cleaner so that we can give exams,

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to even developing countries grow in a more sustainable way

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and in a way that is not going to jeopardize their climate.

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