The prospects of massively scalable nuclear-powered direct air capture as a climate solution
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Direct air capture (DAC) has recently emerged as a promising and highly scalable solution for removing accumulated CO2 in the atmosphere to mitigate global warming. Because DAC needs to capture CO2 from highly diluted levels in the air, it has considerably higher energy demands than conventional CO2 capture from concentrated industrial sources, making cheap input energy essential. The present study proposes that DAC facilities be powered by large-scale nuclear power plants, where the heat usually discarded in cooling towers is productively utilized to regenerate the DAC sorbent. Since the atmosphere serves as a free CO2 transportation network, such plants can be constructed where nuclear reactors are cheapest to construct, strongly improving the business case. A bottom-up techno-economic assessment and uncertainty quantification study for the year 2050 showed median and 90% confidence intervals of the levelized cost of removed CO2 to be 100.5 (76.1-141.3) $/ton when conventional nuclear reactor technology is used. An advanced configuration employing emerging high-temperature nuclear reactor technology to generate excess electricity for co-production of green methanol was slightly more expensive with a larger uncertainty range: 109.0 (72.9-161.9) $/ton. Despite the uncertainty in the assessment, the calculated CO2 removal costs are attractive compared to projected CO2 prices in climate change mitigation scenarios targeting substantial emissions reductions by mid-century. Thus, nuclear-powered DAC can be recommended for further development, targeting longer-term commercial deployment in least-cost countries.
Language: English
Subfield: Mechanical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,100
OpenAlex ID: W4410027201