Good News For The Environment

Nuclear energy, clean safe and cheap. It can keep the US economy rolling towards the future.

The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) just offered its annual outlook for the future of nuclear power, and it’s optimistic—partly of necessity. Today’s 104 nuclear power plants generate about 20 percent of electricity in the United States. Due to rising energy demand and aging infrastructure, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission predicts that industry will need to build 50 new reactors to continue producing the same proportion of the country’s power over the next 30 years.

Most of these plants have gotten past the glint-in-the-eye stage: Thirty-one reactors, representing 17 power companies and consortia, are somewhere in the application process—though NEI predicts only four to eight of those will be in commercial operation by 2016. By that time, pressure for an affordable, clean source of energy could inspire a second wave of applications. “Coal with carbon sequestration looks more like 20 years away than 15,” says John Rowe, CEO of Exelon, the largest nuclear power provider in the United States. “Wind and solar are still more expensive than nuclear.”

The latest designs for proposed plants are smaller, cheaper and more efficient than reactors of the past. Progress Energy recently filed applications for the right to build four new reactors in North Carolina and Florida. CEO William Johnson says the company chose between three Generation III and III+ designs before deciding on the Westinghouse AP1000 pictured above. (Current plants operating in the United States are all Generation II.) The AP1000, a Gen III+ pressurized water reactor, requires fewer pumps, motors and valves and 80 percent less safety-related piping than earlier versions. Yet it also includes new safety features. For example, no operator action or diesel generator is required to shut down the reactor in case of an accident. “New reactor designs are like car engines: They’ve become more cost effective and require less maintenance with fewer moving parts,” Johnson says.