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« Carcinogen Warning Sought for Fries, Chips | Main | China Ratifies Accord Banning Cigarette Ads » August 30, 2005Maybe In My BackyardAccording to Business Week, Nuclear Power is on the comeback trail."Hobbled by images of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, staggering costs, and opposition from enviros and politicos, nuclear power once seemed destined to go the way of the dodo. "Just five years ago, utility executives were saying they wouldn't be caught dead even talking about a new plant," recalls Massachusetts Institute of Technology nuclear engineer Andrew C. Kadak. U.S. utilities were shutting reactors, and Germany planned to pull the plug on its facilities. Today, nukes are on the verge of a global comeback. A new plant is under construction in Finland, the first in Europe since 1991. France, which already has 58 plants, says it will build 30 more. China plans to spend $50 billion on atomic energy construction by 2020. In the U.S., where 103 existing reactors have become cash cows, a dozen companies are seriously considering building new plants. And the energy bill signed by President George W. Bush on Aug. 8 has billions of dollars in subsidies. "Things have never looked better," says Dan R. Keuter, vice-president for business development at Entergy Nuclear (ETR ) in New Orleans. What's fueling this resurgence? In a word, economics. Rising natural gas and coal prices are starting to make nukes look inexpensive. Another factor is global warming. Not only do new restrictions on emissions of carbon dioxide increase the costs of fossil fuel-generated electricity, fears of climate change have softened opposition among some enviros. While the government must still solve problems of waste and security, says Steve Cochran of Environmental Defense, "given the challenge of climate change, the world needs to be open to every low carbon initiative -- including nuclear power." Yes, even "enviros" (is that a deragatory term? It seems harmless, but said with scorn) are looking at the costs and benefits of nuclear power, trying to assess the tradeoffs. The politics do seem pretty hard though, look at Yucca in Nevada. Regardless, I'm ready for Springfield, USA's Isotopes to take on the baseball world. Related fromt the Joint Center: Nuclear Power Can Work John Deutch, Ernest Moniz Posted by the Joint Center at August 30, 2005 09:06 AM |
