IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/enejou/v32y2011i1p149-168.html

The Impact of Climate Change on Nuclear Power Supply

Author

Listed:
  • Kristin Linnerud
  • Torben K. Mideksa
  • Gunnar S. Eskeland

Abstract

A warmer climate may result in lower thermal efficiency and reduced load—including shutdowns—in thermal power plants. Focusing on nuclear power plants, we use different European datasets and econometric strategies to identify these two supply-side effects. We find that a rise in temperature of 1°C reduces the supply of nuclear power by about 0.5% through its effect on thermal efficiency; during droughts and heat waves, the production loss may exceed 2.0% per degree Celsius because power plant cooling systems are constrained by physical laws, regulations and access to cooling water. As climate changes, one must consider measures to protect against and/or to adapt to these impacts.

Suggested Citation

  • Kristin Linnerud & Torben K. Mideksa & Gunnar S. Eskeland, 2011. "The Impact of Climate Change on Nuclear Power Supply," The Energy Journal, , vol. 32(1), pages 149-168, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:32:y:2011:i:1:p:149-168
    DOI: 10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol32-No1-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol32-No1-6
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol32-No1-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chuang, Chia-Chin & Sue, Deng-Chern, 2005. "Performance effects of combined cycle power plant with variable condenser pressure and loading," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 30(10), pages 1793-1801.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alaa Krayem & Eva Thorin, 2026. "Sustainability assessment of Sweden’s nuclear power: implications of the new expansion plans," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 5945-5965, March.
    2. Guénand, Yann & Gailhard, J. & Monteil, C. & Peton, P.-Y. & Martinet, C. & Collet, L. & Bono, C., 2024. "Climate change impact on nuclear power outages - Part I: A methodology to estimate hydro-thermic environmental constraints on power generation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    3. Jingping Zuo & Cuncun Qian, 2025. "Assessment for the response and uncertainty of energy poverty to climate extremes in China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(7), pages 16135-16153, July.
    4. Sergio, Alberto & Colelli, Francesco Pietro, 2025. "Weather-induced power plant outages: Empirical evidence from hydro and thermal generators in Europe," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    5. Collet, L. & Gailhard, J. & Guénand, Y. & Monteil, C. & Oueslati, B. & Peton, P.-Y. & Martinet, C. & Bono, C., 2025. "Future nuclear power outages in a changing climate - A case study on two contrasted French power plants," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    6. Gutting, Alicia & Högselius, Per & Burkhardt-Holm, Patricia, 2025. "Atomic rivers. The (Un)sustainability of nuclear power in an age of climate change," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    7. Dongchang Kim & Shinyoung Kwag & Minkyu Kim & Raeyoung Jung & Seunghyun Eem, 2025. "Identifying and Prioritizing Climate-Related Natural Hazards for Nuclear Power Plants in Korea Using Delphi," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-19, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Juangsa, Firman Bagja & Prananto, Lukman Adi & Mufrodi, Zahrul & Budiman, Arief & Oda, Takuya & Aziz, Muhammad, 2018. "Highly energy-efficient combination of dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexane and hydrogen-based power generation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 31-38.
    2. Dosa, Ion & Petrilean, Dan Codrut & Tataru, Andreea Cristina & Vasilescu, Gabriel Dragos & Mija, Nelu & Cazac, Alin Marian & Rusu, Oana & Tatarcan, Anca-Cristina & Bejinariu, Costica, 2025. "Assessment of steam turbine performance degradation in long-term operation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 327(C).
    3. Jennifer Cronin & Gabrial Anandarajah & Olivier Dessens, 2018. "Climate change impacts on the energy system: a review of trends and gaps," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 151(2), pages 79-93, November.
    4. Wang, Chaoyang & Liu, Ming & Zhao, Yongliang & Qiao, Yongqiang & Chong, Daotong & Yan, Junjie, 2018. "Dynamic modeling and operation optimization for the cold end system of thermal power plants during transient processes," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 734-746.
    5. Schenk, Niels J. & Moll, Henri C. & Potting, José & Benders, René M.J., 2007. "Wind energy, electricity, and hydrogen in the Netherlands," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 1960-1971.
    6. González-Díaz, Abigail & Alcaráz-Calderón, Agustín M. & González-Díaz, Maria Ortencia & Méndez-Aranda, Ángel & Lucquiaud, Mathieu & González-Santaló, Jose Miguel, 2017. "Effect of the ambient conditions on gas turbine combined cycle power plants with post-combustion CO2 capture," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 221-233.
    7. Variny, Miroslav & Mierka, Otto, 2009. "Improvement of part load efficiency of a combined cycle power plant provisioning ancillary services," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(6), pages 888-894, June.
    8. Tedjini, Benamar & Benyounes, Hassiba, 2025. "Using total site heat integration TSHI and intensification to enhance the mega fertilizer plant’s power system stability and plant sustainability," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    9. Plaga, Leonie Sara & Bertsch, Valentin, 2023. "Methods for assessing climate uncertainty in energy system models — A systematic literature review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).
    10. Chen, Hao & Liu, Simin & Liu, Qiufeng & Shi, Xueli & Wei, Wendong & Han, Rong & Küfeoğlu, Sinan, 2021. "Estimating the impacts of climate change on electricity supply infrastructure: A case study of China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    11. Cohen, Stuart M. & Dyreson, Ana & Turner, Sean & Tidwell, Vince & Voisin, Nathalie & Miara, Ariel, 2022. "A multi-model framework for assessing long- and short-term climate influences on the electric grid," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    12. repec:aen:journl:2011v32-01-a06 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Alklaibi, A.M. & Khan, M.N. & Khan, W.A., 2016. "Thermodynamic analysis of gas turbine with air bottoming cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 603-611.
    14. Wang, Wei & Zeng, Deliang & Liu, Jizhen & Niu, Yuguang & Cui, Can, 2014. "Feasibility analysis of changing turbine load in power plants using continuous condenser pressure adjustment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 533-540.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:32:y:2011:i:1:p:149-168. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.