Nuclear energy can help power Maine’s future

A golden opportunity exists for Maine if we are smart and plan ahead. Maine can benefit from the upcoming need for nuclear energy production.

Why should Maine encourage the construction of nuclear energy plants? Demand for electricity will escalate as our population expands and energy-hungry manufacturing industries grow. We need cheaper energy if our economy is going to stay competitive here and abroad. Wind and solar power are important sources to be developed, but overall they cannot make more than minor contributions. Energy conservation is fine, but we could never conserve enough to meet expected future demands.

Nuclear power also is environmentally friendly and critical to national security. Nuclear plants have zero emissions of greenhouse gases. Today, nuclear energy supplies 16 percent of the world’s electricity, avoiding the emission of 2.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year. And imagine the benefits of freeing ourselves from dependence on oil from Middle East hotspots.

Energy policies of the past resulted in construction of numerous natural gas generators throughout the Northeast. They are relatively cheap to build and it was thought that large reservoirs of natural gas were available at perennially low prices. Years later, we now realize there is no inexhaustible supply of natural gas and its price can be quite volatile, leading to current high energy costs.

Nuclear power plants, conversely, are expensive to build, but cheap to operate. They need little fuel, and that fuel lasts for years. The price of uranium is stable and cheap. Significant uranium sources are in friendly countries, such as Australia and Canada.

New plant design has benefited from the experience of engineers and operators managing plants that have been running since the 1970s and 1980s. New plants have passive safety systems that can act without operator intervention. Their more simplified design has fewer pumps, motors and pipes, lowering operating costs and reducing potential for mechanical or operator errors.

Alternative methods of nuclear waste reprocessing conceivably could minimize the storage and disposal controversy. The old method of reprocessing separated out plutonium, which is used in nuclear weapons. Newer methods do not separate the plutonium; the waste is instead used in “fast reactors,” which consume most of the radioactive elements. The remaining waste from these reactors only needs to be stored for a few hundred years, not the thousands required of current waste streams.

Congress recently streamlined the application process for new nuclear power plants. Design and operating permits are now combined, so utilities will not face the prospect of investing billions of dollars to build a state-of-the-art facility and then not be allowed to operate the plant. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 has provided incentives for construction through production tax credits for the first 6,000 megawatts, insurance for debt service for the first few plants if commercial operation is delayed, and federal loan guarantees for up to 80 percent of the total project cost.

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has helped speed things up by now approving the design for nuclear reactors from manufacturers such as Westinghouse and General Electric. Plants can be built more quickly because only the modifications to the design have to be approved before construction begins.

What a shame that none of the 17 companies developing applications for new plants before the NRC is in the Northeast. I am introducing legislation this winter to create a Maine Nuclear Power Council to encourage, coordinate and guide interested parties to site nuclear power plants in Maine. I could not think of a better economic development plan for Maine. High-paying technical jobs are needed for the planning, building and operation of these facilities. Hundreds of millions or dollars will be spent in the construction trades. The hosting community’s tax base would see a huge expansion and possibly the elimination of property taxes on residential real estate.

The process of licensing and building a new nuclear power plant averages nearly a decade. Nuclear power can not only supply lots of cheap energy our economy desperately needs to compete, it can meet an ever-growing demand for power production with an environmentally friendly, emission-free method of energy production.

The continued growth in electricity demand and tightening reserve margins should not only frighten but provide an opportunity. I believe the Legislature, as a deliberative body, instead of always being concerned with simply the present, needs to be forward-looking and act on such important matters. I hope I can convince my colleagues of the need and importance of nuclear energy come January in Augusta.

State Rep. Bob Walker (R-Lincolnville) represents the towns of Appleton, Hope, Islesboro, Liberty, Lincolnville, Morrill and Searsmont.