Original version

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

The Inquiry

Documentaries

Factual

News

Getting beyond the headlines to explore the forces and ideas shaping the world

The Inquiry gets beyond the headlines to explore the trends, forces and ideas shaping the world.

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

The Inquiry: Do we need more nuclear power to help deal with climate change?

Do we need to build more nuclear power stations to help deal with climate change?

03/06/2021 GMT

Do we need more nuclear power to help deal with climate change?

BBC World Service - The Inquiry, Do we need more nuclear power to help deal with climate change?

Tanya Beckett asks if nuclear energy can helps us transition away from fossil fuel power.

Nuclear energy is a powerful resource, but a costly one. Tanya Beckett asks if building more nuclear power stations will help us finally transition away from fossil fuels.

In November 2021, Britain will host the next UN Climate Change Conference, otherwise known as COP 26. Some 200 countries will come together to try to speed up attempts to make the world carbon neutral by the middle of the century. 

But many countries are already struggling to ramp up renewable energy sufficiently to meet their greenhouse emission reduction targets. So is there another answer out there? 

Around a tenth of the world's electricity is generated by nuclear reactors. Global generation has slowed in recent years after the nuclear accident in Fukushima a decade ago prompted governments to take a more cautious stance. 

But with the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions, many prominent environmentalists are now taking another look at nuclear energy.

Tanya Beckett asks if nuclear energy can helps us transition away from fossil fuel power.

Produced by Soila Apparicio.


(Exhaust plumes from cooling towers at the coal-fired power station at Jaenschwalde Germany. Credit: Sean Gallup /Getty Images)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Inquiry

Do we need more nuclear power to help deal with climate change?

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

About BBC World Service