Governments and policymakers need to recognise the potential of advanced reactor systems as low-carbon, cost-effective means to help reach emission targets while overcoming potential grid reliability issues caused by the deployment of renewables, the Nuclear Energy Agency said in a report.

The Paris-based agency said further, drastic decarbonisation is needed in the electricity system to help countries on their way to achieving carbon-neutral targets. It warned that further increases in the penetration of variable renewable energy sources will inevitably give rise to power system reliability issues – a problem for which advanced reactor systems could offer a solution with their stability and manoeuvrability over broader timescales.

In terms of cost effectiveness, the NEA suggested that the cost of building an electricity system that could achieve very low CO2 emission rates would increase dramatically as the share of variable renewable energy sources increase, and would lower as the share of nuclear energy increases.