Nuke Agency: Increase of Power Plants in Works
Jun 28 - Scripps Howard
Fifty years after the world's first nuclear-power electric-generating station went on the grid near Moscow, experts at the International Atomic Energy Agency say it's likely many more nuclear-power plants are coming _ but it's unclear how many will be built in the United States or Western Europe.
"The more we look to the future, the more we can expect countries to be
considering the potential benefits that expanding nuclear power has to offer for
the global environment and for economic growth," said agency Director
General Mohamed ElBaradei, as he joined an international conference of
nuclear-power experts meeting to discuss the future of the industry over the
next 50 years.
Population growth, power demand and shortages of other fuels have driven
nuclear-plant construction in countries like Japan, South Korea and India. But
concerns about safety and waste disposal have dampened enthusiasm for nuclear
electricity generation in the United States, Canada and Western Europe since the
accidents at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania (1979) and Chernobyl in what is
now Ukraine (1986).
The IAEA notes that four Western European nations _ Germany, Belgium, the
Netherlands and Sweden _ have phase-out policies for nuclear power.
However, with oil and natural-gas prices soaring and emissions-control
requirements tightening, other countries are discovering new value from nuclear
power. Finland is slated to start work on a new plant next year, and France is
considering replacing retiring reactors.
Agency officials note that several developing countries that don't currently
operate nuclear plants have recently approached them about the possibility of
bringing reactors online.
Many of the Chernobyl-type reactors have been or soon will be retired, and
the rest have added safety features. The IAEA has worked with all nuclear
nations on safeguards and to develop improved reactor designs, including new
units that could better utilize reprocessed fuel rods.
"The decision to adopt nuclear power cannot be made on a 'one size fits
all' basis," ElBaradei said. "New nuclear plants are most attractive
where energy demand is growing and alternative resources are scarce, and where
energy security and reduced air pollution and greenhouse gases are a
priority."
In the United States, 75 percent of the 104 reactors in operation either have
been approved for another 20 years of service by the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission or are in the process of doing so _ a reversal from the 1980s and
1990s, when plants were shut down or running at reduced capacity more often than
not.
The Department of Energy has set up a new program to aid private firms in
getting combined licenses to build and operate new plants, and three consortia
of energy companies, nuclear suppliers and engineering firms have started the
application process, although many political, legal and economic hurdles remain.
Worldwide, the IAEA's most optimistic short-term projection is that nuclear
power will generate 70 percent more electricity in 2030 than it does now. Atomic
energy has made up about 16 percent of the world's juice since 1987.
But other analysis done in the context of changing energy sources to help
forestall carbon emissions and global warming suggests that nuclear-power
production could increase to about 27 percent of electricity production.
The long-term problem of what to do with spent fuel that will remain highly
radioactive for tens of thousands of years remains. Only a few countries,
including the United States and Finland, have moved toward establishing
repositories, and the IAEA is increasing efforts to come up with long-term
storage sites under international control.
On the Net: www.iaea.org
(E-mail Lee Bowman at BowmanL(at)shns.com or visit www.shns.com.)
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