Building more nuclear reactors may take too much time and do too little to reduce emissions. (image: amitojgautam.wordpress.com)

A new report has concluded that more nuclear power is not going to help reduce global warming, reports Tiffany Hsu in the Los Angeles Times. A citizen-based environmental advocacy organization, the Environment California Research & Policy Center, says that launching a nuclear power industry nearly from the ground up will take too long and cost too much. Researchers say energy efficiency standards and renewable energy options are better solutions.

The last time a nuclear power plant was built in the US was 1978 and there are no new nuclear reactors on the horizon. All orders for nuclear facilities after fall 1973 were eventually canceled, according to the report.

The study suggested that building a new reactor would take about a decade; it could be completed by 2016 at the earliest. Plus, due to the lack of trained personnel, it would be difficult to manufacture parts for the reactor.

Even if the nuclear industry managed to build 100 reactors by 2030, the power they produced would only reduce total US emissions by 12 percent over the next 20 years. For Environment California, that is “far too little, too late.”

This report comes on the heels of recent reports that nuclear energy is the key to winning bipartisan support for the climate bill in the Senate. So although nuclear energy might be the politically expedient choice, it may not be the wise one.