Up next in 10
What If Europe Was Powered Entirely By Nuclear Energy Today?
2K views
Mar 31, 2025
Europe is undergoing an energy crisis due to the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent economic sanctions. This has sent European countries scrambling to provide enough energy resources to heat homes and businesses through a long, cold winter. But it didn't have to be this way. Had Europe opted to continue building more nuclear power plants, their situation today could have been very different.
View Video Transcript
0:00
In the not-too-distant past, nuclear power was expected to power everything
0:04
But after the near-disaster at Three Mile Island and the complete disaster at Chernobyl
0:08
global interest in nuclear energy soured. Nuclear energy never fully recovered from its height
0:12
and today, Europe is now undergoing an extreme energy crisis. So what if Europe was powered
0:18
entirely by nuclear energy today? Today's episode is sponsored by Kamikoto, makers of authentic Japanese steel knives. Now, I really enjoy cooking, and I learned long ago
0:28
that a high-quality steel knife can go a long way to ensuring that you prepare your meal safely
0:33
and effectively. And with Kamikoto's Japanese Honshu steel knives, cooking and preparing meals
0:39
has never been more fun. Here's why. Kamikoto's knives are made from high-quality Japanese steel
0:45
using traditional techniques from the Honshu region. More than that, they just have a really
0:50
nice weight and balance to them, which makes slicing and dicing super easy. And each knife
0:55
is individually inspected and comes with a lifetime guarantee. Also, these knives are used
1:00
by Michelin star chefs all over the world. That's quality. Finally, are you preparing to shop for
1:06
the holidays? Kamikoto's knives come in a heavy duty ash wood box, which makes for a great present
1:13
Kamikoto is now running a Black Friday sale where my viewers can get an extra $50 off of any knife
1:19
set in addition to the special discounts already available. All you need is the special discount
1:24
code WHATIFG to get this amazing deal. Visit www.comicodo.com slash WHATIFG to get your premium
1:32
knife set and help support this channel. Hello and welcome to What If Geography where we try
1:42
and answer the great geographic what if questions of the world. I'm your host Jeff Gibson and today
1:47
we're going to talk about Europe's energy crisis. More specifically, how nuclear energy could have
1:52
helped out the continent today had they invested in it a little bit more. And hey, are you interested
1:57
in following me outside of YouTube? If so, check out my new Substack newsletter where you can find
2:02
more geography content, maps, and more of just what I get up to. Links are in the description below
2:07
Also, this week marks the beginning of the World Cup. If you're interested, Hunter Shobi and I are
2:12
taking a hard look at what the world would look like had the World Cup never existed. Join us on
2:17
Wednesday for the first part of a two-part episode on the What If Geography podcast
2:22
You can listen right here on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts
2:31
The discovery of nuclear fission in 1938 opened up two distinct possibilities for the world
2:36
On one end, nuclear fission brought about terribly destructive weapons that continue
2:40
to risk the end of all life on this planet. But on the other end, it revealed an entirely
2:44
new method of energy production that could power hundreds of thousands of homes without all that nasty air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels Because it was relatively light in terms of pollution nuclear energy rapidly became a significant tributer of power for many industrialized countries in the late 1900s
3:01
Between 1950 and 1980, hundreds of nuclear power plants were built all around the world
3:06
increasing the global power capacity from less than 1 gigawatt in 1960 to over 100 gigawatts
3:11
by late 1970. To put this in perspective, 1 gigawatt of power is enough to power about 750,000 homes
3:19
At 100 gigawatts, that's somewhere around 75 million homes and businesses powered entirely
3:23
by nuclear energy. That's an incredible level of growth, especially for something that is very complicated and
3:29
expensive to build out. Nuclear energy, of course, was pushed to even further heights after the onset of the 1973
3:34
oil crisis. During this period of time, OPEC nations issued an oil embargo to much of the Western world
3:40
for their part in supporting Israel during the Yom Kippur War. This caused the price of oil and gasoline to spike and, in many places, simply run out
3:48
Because so much energy around the Western world was still powered by oil at the time, this served as a catalyst for the rapid expansion of nuclear reactors
3:56
France and Japan in particular leaned heavily into nuclear energy as an alternative to oil
4:00
By 2019, over 70% of France's power was generated by nuclear power
4:05
It's worth noting here that France has never had a major nuclear disaster
4:09
Now, despite being a relatively clean source of energy that could power millions of homes across Europe
4:14
nuclear power suffered from two very visible problems. The first is that production of nuclear energy creates a radioactive byproduct that is difficult to manage
4:22
Much of this waste needs to be treated and then stored underground for an incredibly long time
4:27
This makes determining the eventual future outcomes of nuclear radioactive waste hard to predict
4:32
After all, how can we determine whether radioactive waste will still be safely contained 1,000 years from today
4:37
let alone 1 million years? The second problem is that traditional nuclear power plants are still, well, nuclear
4:44
And that comes with all the inherent risks that you can probably imagine. But you won't have to imagine it because it's happened before
4:50
On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear reactor went into meltdown, spreading radiation across a huge area of Europe
4:58
and led to the full-on abandonment of the nearby city of Pripyat. This, combined with the recent Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011
5:04
and the very recent near-disaster in Ukraine at the Zaporizhia nuclear power station
5:09
has certainly not encouraged positive conversations about nuclear power. Despite these highly visible and very scary disasters
5:15
nuclear power is statistically one of the safest methods of power generation
5:20
When factoring in excess deaths caused by air pollution, fossil fuel sources of energy are responsible for thousands of times more deaths than nuclear energy
5:28
Nuclear power is far more comparable to wind, hydro, and solar in terms of deaths than coal or oil
5:35
Today, Europe still generates plenty of electricity using existing nuclear power plants
5:40
There are currently 133 active nuclear reactors that as of 2021 generated approximately 23 of Europe total energy excluding Russia Unfortunately this has been trending downward
5:52
over the last decade with more plants being decommissioned than planned for future development
5:56
Outside of France, most of Europe has turned its back on nuclear energy
6:00
With a seemingly unending supply of cheap Russian gas, there simply wasn't much of an appetite for nuclear power
6:07
And unfortunately for Europe, that disinvestment in nuclear is now hitting the continent hard
6:11
as Russian gas is off the menu due to the war in Ukraine. But before we get into Europe's current energy infrastructure
6:17
if you're enjoying this video, now would be a great time to subscribe
6:22
More fun what-if geography videos are just a single click away. Europe has a complicated history with its own energy infrastructure
6:33
Not that most regions have simple infrastructure, but there really isn't any other place on the planet
6:37
that has invested so much into a previous adversary supplying such a large portion of its energy
6:43
As of 2021, Europe got its energy primarily from the following sources
6:47
1% oil, 4% solar, 10% wind, 15% coal, 17% hydro, 23% nuclear, and 25% natural gas
6:59
Since 1990, Europe has collectively grown its natural gas use by more than 100%
7:04
with the vast majority of this supply coming from Russia. And it made sense at the time, too
7:10
Nuclear energy was increasingly unpopular with people who feared another Chernobyl incident
7:15
As such, most European countries increased their use of natural gas. Between 1985 and 2021, most European countries increased their gas use by multiple times
7:25
with Belarus, Italy, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Greece, Portugal, and Spain all getting at least 25% of their energy from natural gas
7:34
At the same time, nuclear energy stagnated throughout the continent. Most countries opted to decommission nuclear power plants that were nearing end of life
7:42
without building new ones in their place. Today, only Ukraine and Czechia have grown their nuclear energy
7:48
albeit with France maintaining at around 65% of its total energy use
7:52
And while in recent years, Europe has taken measures to grow its solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources, it hasn't done so fast enough
8:00
Solar and wind energy combined still make up less than 15% of Europe's total energy
8:04
And again, the increase in renewable energy has come at the expense of nuclear and coal
8:09
not natural gas, which is the primary problem today. Europe is in pretty dire straits with regards to its energy infrastructure
8:20
With the war in Ukraine continuing and strict sanctions being levied on Russia for its illegal
8:25
invasion, Europe has had to pivot hard away from natural gas. And while the continent only gets 25
8:30
of its energy from natural gas, it simply not easy to shift where energy is coming from It wouldn be easy to do over a decade let alone a single year But while Europe is struggling right now it also a very wealthy continent overall
8:43
and as such is able to purchase energy and gas from other sources, even if it comes at a premium
8:49
Other countries? Not so much. Pakistan, for example, is dealing with an energy crisis as well
8:55
but this is as a result of Europe purchasing its normal delivery of natural gas for a far higher
8:59
premium. That's not to say that Europe should return to buying Russian gas, but it does highlight
9:03
the intricate and delicate balance of the world's energy infrastructure, especially when so much is
9:07
dependent on a single country. Nuclear power, by contrast, is more dispersed. Had Europe invested
9:13
in nuclear energy in the same way it invested in natural gas, things would probably look far
9:17
different today. Europe currently gets about 23% of its energy from nuclear power, and while that's
9:26
been trending downward over the last couple decades, there's been renewed interest in nuclear
9:30
energy due to the current energy crisis. Germany, for example, has been opposed to new nuclear
9:35
power plants for a long time, but has since opted to keep two of its three nuclear power plants
9:39
operational for the foreseeable future. Additionally, the United Kingdom currently has two nuclear power plants under construction as you watch this video. In order for Europe to
9:48
become a nuclear-powered continent, however, it will need to dramatically ramp up its construction
9:52
If it wants to replace natural gas, Europe's nuclear energy production needs to grow by over
9:56
double. This means an extra 1,185 terawatt hours of nuclear energy hitting the grid
10:02
Nuclear energy today only generates 1,111 terawatt hours total for Europe. And if Europe wants to
10:08
replace all of its fossil fuel use with nuclear energy, it would need to add an additional 788
10:13
terawatt hours of nuclear energy to add to its energy grid. All told, Europe would need to build
10:18
at least an additional 150 nuclear power reactors to offset its entire fossil fuel energy generation
10:24
And to add an average cost of about 5 to 6 billion euros apiece, Europe would need to invest almost a trillion euros to get this done
10:31
And that's not a small cost. But the benefits would be almost immediate
10:35
Chief among them would be an energy grid that is independent of Russia and all of the immediate negative aspects of that relationship
10:40
such as funding a ruthless dictatorship. But beyond that, a fossil fuel-free Europe would go a long way towards reducing
10:46
the overall 3.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide that the continent emits every single year
10:51
Nuclear energy is, after all, an incredibly clean source of energy. While there are issues around nuclear waste
10:57
it's not really as big an issue as it's been made out to be. Europe sunk itself into Russia's natural gas because it was so incredibly cheap
11:04
However, given the war in Ukraine, it's proven to be a terrible investment
11:09
While nuclear energy is certainly expensive, there's something to be said for having a power grid that your country controls entirely
11:15
Nuclear can give Europe that power. They just have to invest in it. I hope you enjoyed learning about Europe's energy issues
11:22
If you did, please subscribe to my channel. And if you want to watch more of my videos, you can do so here
11:28
Thanks for watching, see you next time
#education
#Nuclear Energy
#Renewable & Alternative Energy
#World News