The Nuclear Option

Professor Hammond Authors New Report on Nuclear Power and Carbon Dioxide Emissions

October 20, 2016

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According to a new report authored by GW Law Professor Emily Hammond, preserving existing nuclear power is critical to meeting carbon dioxide reduction goals in the near term. The report, presented by the Horinko Group, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental consulting firm, evaluates the carbon emissions avoided by nuclear power and contextualizes that contribution within the parameter of the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan.

"I would be very difficult to meet the Clean Power Plan goals without nuclear power," said Hammond at the report's launch hosted by nuclear advocacy group Nuclear Matters and Bloomberg BNA in Washington, D.C. "If we didn't have it, we would be more than twice behind meeting the carbon reduction goals that the Clean Power Plan sets."

The study, "Nuclear Power and the Clean Energy Future," maintains that nuclear energy plants in the United States collectively prevent more than 531 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. Media coverage of the study includes Hartford Business and Daily Energy Insider.