The economic benefits of safe, low-cost, carbon-free energy are diverse and far-reaching.
People with access to inexpensive energy benefit from better living standards. Cheap and readily available electricity can lift people out of energy poverty. Even in developed countries, there is a clear link between electricity prices and quality of life.
In locations that build Stable Salt Reactor – Wasteburners (SSR-Ws), people will benefit from long-term, high-quality jobs in the clean energy sector, while the local economy benefits from an increase in GDP and tax revenue.
A recent study showed that between 2020 and 2035, two new reactors in New Brunswick will create:
- approximately 730 jobs per year;
- $1 billion in GDP; and
- $120 million in provincial government revenue.
On a grander scale, implementing technology that reduces carbon emissions and contributes to the fight against climate change has an almost incalculable positive economic impact. The costs of climate change are devastatingly high and include the costs of human health effects and environmental damage.
SSR-W technology can power a carbon-free world in which the worst effects of climate change have been avoided. It can provide near-term stimulus, long-term economic benefits, reduce energy poverty and improve living conditions for people everywhere.