{"title":"The debate on nuclear energy for sustainability: A comment","authors":"John-Oliver Engler, Henrik von Wehrden","doi":"10.14512/gaia.32.3.4","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The role of nuclear energy to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions continues to be a contentious issue in many countries. Public debate is often convoluted and largely revolves around price and costs of energy production technologies as well as their contribution to climate change. Here, we first dissect two interwoven factors bound to produce confusion in the price-cost debate: temporal discounting and external costs. We then explore how a stronger focus on risk ethics could contribute to the debate on nuclear energy for sustainability.","PeriodicalId":49073,"journal":{"name":"Gaia-Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Gaia-Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.14512/gaia.32.3.4","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The role of nuclear energy to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions continues to be a contentious issue in many countries. Public debate is often convoluted and largely revolves around price and costs of energy production technologies as well as their contribution to climate change. Here, we first dissect two interwoven factors bound to produce confusion in the price-cost debate: temporal discounting and external costs. We then explore how a stronger focus on risk ethics could contribute to the debate on nuclear energy for sustainability.
期刊介绍:
GAIA is a peer-reviewed inter- and transdisciplinary journal for scientists and other interested parties concerned with the causes and analyses of environmental and sustainability problems and their solutions.
Environmental problems cannot be solved by one academic discipline. The complex natures of these problems require cooperation across disciplinary boundaries. Since 1991, GAIA has offered a well-balanced and practice-oriented forum for transdisciplinary research. GAIA offers first-hand information on state of the art environmental research and on current solutions to environmental problems. Well-known editors, advisors, and authors work to ensure the high quality of the contributions found in GAIA and a unique transdisciplinary dialogue – in a comprehensible style.