Pace Paw Print

Media Credit: espionageinfo.com Can this happen again?

The American Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has not received applications for construction of new nuclear power plants (NPPs) in the last 30 years. However, it is expecting to receive 27 new requests in nearly 20 locations (mainly in close proximity of existing NPPs) within the next two years. What are the reasons for the sudden change? To answer this, one shall find themselves looking at the history of the industry.

The 1950s were extremely optimistic years for nuclear power. Dwight Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" speech called for augmentation of controlled civilian application of the nuclear power. The United States, Russia, and Britain were the first to construct nuclear power plans. Lewis Strauss of the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) went as far as stating that some day nuclear power will be "too cheap to meter."

However, the future of the industry became deprived a few decades later. The first major civilian incident occurred in 1979 at the Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, which resulted in a partial meltdown of the reactor. Nonetheless, it was minimal compared to the events that took place in Chernobyl, Ukraine in the spring of 1986, where an electrical failure resulted in an explosion, releasing dangerous radionuclides and contaminating an area spanning several thousand miles (United Nations).

Soon after, the public swiftly developed a fear of nuclear power. As a result the regulations in the US became tighter, thus resulting in higher costs of construction. Utility companies began losing investors and were forced to turn to the government for support, which in turn used taxpayers' dollars to bail out these money losing operations (Univ. of Kansas).

Today the situation is different. Nuclear reactor developers, such as General Electric (GE) and Westinghouse, have years of experience in the industry. After listening to the feedback provided by the current operating utilities they were able to incorporate their implications into the modern designs, such as passive safety systems which will shut down the reactor without any human interaction when something goes wrong.

Another innovation comes from Germany where a small capacity "pebble bed" reactor has been developed. The first plant of this type will begin its construction in South Africa in 2009, and will be capable of generating approximately 165 megawatts. This type of a reactor is fueled by uranium fuel encapsulated in small pebbles, thus resulting in increased safety. According to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor Andrew Kadak, these types of reactors "cannot meltdown."

The US Energy Policy for 2005 created numerous financial incentives for the construction of the new nuclear power plants. Additionally NRC has simplified the process of obtaining licensing for the construction of the new plants. Before this two separate licenses were needed in order to construct and then start up the reactor. Problems associated with this regulation did not attract new investors. For instance a plant in Shoreham, NY was approved, built, and tested, but never allowed to begin operations due to the local opposition. Long Island Lightning Company's costs increased from $70 million to $60 billion as a result of the opposition.

Of course one of the primary public concerns remains to be the disposal of used nuclear fuel. In order to avoid extraction of plutonium (which can be used in construction of nuclear weapons, and is one of the ways the fuel is reprocessed) and staying in line with the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), the concept of "fast" reactors can be used. These reactors use a different concept than the currently popular thermal reactors and can extract long-lived nuclear materials that are currently considered nuclear waste (Economist).

Another venture is to build a nuclear repository for the storage of nuclear waste. The current proposed location is the Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The project was proposed in 1978 and is not even close to being approved. Additionally, Harry Reid, a senator from Nevada, has recently become the Senate leader, thus reducing the chances of the repository being built in the near future to nearly none (Economist).

Many developing countries, such as China and India, are looking at the nuclear power as the only sustainable resource (IEA). Volatility of costs of electricity generated by the gas powered power plans correlates with the price of gas, which is often affected by regional conflicts and natural disasters. Nuclear power plants use uranium, which is mainly located in peaceful states such as Canada and Australia. Recent American polls show that 50% of people are now in favor of expansion of nuclear power, a 6% increase from 2001 (Economist).

Nuclear power has come a long way. It became safer, cheaper, and greener. But is it enough to convince the public?

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