“Nuclear power plants have long been the subject of suspicion in Congress.  The looming cooling towers of a nuclear reactor are, I admit, a little ominous.  Once you understand how safe and clean nuclear technology is, however, a different scary thought pops into your head – why aren’t Americans using more nuclear power?

We often talk about ways to diversify the fuels we use in America, especially the ones we put into our cars and trucks.  Diversifying electricity, on the other hand, is seldom talked about.

Yet it is just as urgent that America have a domestic supply of fuels as it is that we have a stable, secure supply of electricity.  Fossil fuels which drive the production of electricity are generally non-renewable resources.  There is no reason to believe that the electricity needs of our nation can be met indefinitely using the technology and resources available to us today.  We have to plan for this energy future, too.

Not only is nuclear power clean and safe (only one U.S. reactor has ever been permanently closed, Three Mile Island 2), it also uses substantially lower-cost inputs per kilowatt-hour produced than electricity from coal or natural gas plants.  Today, nuclear represents 20 percent of America’s electricity and 12 percent of its electrical energy capacity.

Inexplicably, despite the continued growth in demand for electricity in America, not a single new nuclear power facility has been licensed in the last 30 years.  The last nuclear power plant to be completed in the U.S. began operating in 1996.  Moreover, the drive to find clean electricity production is barely a part of our national energy policy.

 
So it was a grave disappointment to me that the energy bill passed at the end of last year’s Congress was missing two key elements.  One was encouragement for coal gasification technologies that get a more efficient energy product out of the coal we now use for electricity.  The other is that there was nothing in this legislation about nuclear power.

In the 1970's, nearly-finished nuclear power plants were literally disassembled; they never went online.  Our nation backed away from nuclear power as a whole, while other countries embraced it.  France is a global leader in the use of nuclear power – nearly 80 percent of their electricity is derived from nuclear sources.  Bulgaria and Romania are in the process of constructing nuclear power facilities; they plan to sell excess power they don’t use to other European Union nations on the grid.  Europeans are so proficient at building and implementing nuclear infrastructure, in fact, that most of the unique parts required for the construction of a nuclear plant are no longer made in the U.S.   Instead, they are produced in Europe.

Reclaiming the initiative and constructing nuclear power for Americans is going to take some heavy lifting.  Unlike our situation with oil, though, we must press for reforms now in order to have a stable supply of clean, safe and affordable power in the future.  The existing U.S. capacity will not last us forever.

We are using more and more of our nuclear power capabilities to meet growing demand for electricity.  In 1980, 56 percent of U.S. nuclear capacity was being utilized.  In 1990, that figure was up to 66 percent.  By 2002, we were using over 90 percent of the potential energy our nuclear power infrastructure has to offer.  As we approach the maximum output of our present system, we must recognize the efficiency of nuclear power and come to terms with its role in our American energy future.”