Nuclear energy worthy of long overdue comeback

This year marks the 50th anniversary of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s historic “Atoms for Peace” address to the United Nations, and it may well signal a long overdue comeback for nuclear energy in the United States.

Speaking to the U.N. General Assembly in December 1953, Eisenhower proposed an international program to guarantee the peaceful use of nuclear energy. He offered, if Congress would go along, to share U.S. atomic secrets. He also proposed the pooling of uranium and fissionable material, making it available to scientists for the enrichment of people’s lives throughout the globe.

Today, the peaceful uses of nuclear technology are improving our lives in countless ways, extraordinary in their importance and scope, from the testing of metal alloys in airplane structures to electricity generation, from testing paper quality with radiation gauges to breeding high-yield crop seeds, from eradicating insect pests to running smoke detectors. Above all, the harnessed atom has become indispensable to the modern practice of medicine, playing a leading role in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

In the five decades since Eisenhower’s address, the atom has become an abundant source of energy. Nuclear power provides 77 percent of the electricity in France, 44 percent in Sweden, 39 percent in Switzerland, 28 percent in Japan, and 23 percent in the United Kingdom. And, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, 32 nuclear power plants are under construction using Western technology.

Nuclear power accounts for 20 percent of U.S. electricity production. Although there hasn’t been an order for a new nuclear plant since 1978, nuclear power in the United States is actually growing. The 103 U.S. nuclear plants produced a record 785 million megawatt-hours of electricity in 2002, compared to 769 million megawatt-hours in 2001 and 557 million in 1990, adding the equivalent of 25 1,000-megawatt power plants in the past 12 years.

The United States has all the essentials for the further development of nuclear power. It has a record of outstanding plant safety and efficiency, a timetable for building a nuclear-waste repository, and sources of capital for electrical companies that are gearing up to develop a new generation of advanced nuclear plants.

What accounts for the turnabout? Refueling shutdowns that used to last several months before electric-industry deregulation are now completed in as little as 18 to 20 days. With improved safety and maintenance, nuclear plants now run nearly two years without shutdowns. According to McGraw-Hill’s Utility Data Institute, average production costs for nuclear power are now just 1.7 cents per kilowatt-hour, while electricity produced from natural gas costs more than three times as much.

Consequently, the financial community is recognizing that nuclear plants are increasingly attractive assets in a deregulated electricity market. Major utilities have been engaged in bidding wars to buy nuclear plants. And instead of plants being mothballed at the end of what was once thought to be the end of their useful life – around 30 years – 16 reactors have been licensed by the NRC for another 20 years of operation. Within the next 15 years, 40 percent of U.S. nuclear plants are expected to request similar life extensions. Industry executives anticipate that virtually all existing plants will be renewed.

Nuclear power is drawing increased attention now because of two very serious problems with fossil fuels that have worldwide implications: Growing danger of increased dependence on both imported oil and imported natural gas and the ominous potential of global climate change.

This year could be a turning point in redirecting our emphasis in energy production away from fossil fuels and toward nuclear power. An indication is the U.S. Senate’s passage of a bill to provide loan guarantees for up to half the cost of building six advanced nuclear plants, with a combined electricity output of 8,400 megawatts. This is enough electricity to power 8 million homes. The measure also provides $1.1 billion for construction of an experimental demonstration reactor that produces both electricity and hydrogen for use in industrial processes and in fuel cells to power motor vehicles.

Those who scoff at the idea of the United States building another nuclear plant ignore that three utilities – in Virginia, Mississippi and Illinois – have announced plans to apply later this year to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for early site approval, so that when they decide to place an order for a new nuclear plant the site for it already will have been established. Once critical benefit of the new site approval process is that application review and approval should take 18 to 30 months, while under old procedures it could take a decade or more.

Also, the NRC has certified for construction three designs for advanced nuclear plants. Unlike today’s operating plants, which were custom built, the new units will be based on standardized designs in order to reduce construction costs.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recognizes the importance of nuclear power in achieving the nation’s energy and environmental goals. The Department of Energy has forecast the need for 1,900 new power plants by 2020, and said that at least some of those plants will need to be nuclear.

The world has benefited from Eisenhower’s vision of atoms for peace. As the demand for electricity continues to grow in the United States, at some point utilities will launch the construction of a new generation of nuclear plants. By availing ourselves of the much greater energy resources of nuclear power, we would be taking an important step in showing that we are serious about energy security and protecting the environment.

Donald A. Grant, Ph.D., P.E. is the R. C. Hill Professor and chairman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maine.