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Feb 01 - Chicago Tribune
Although energy policy warranted only a few words in the president's State of the Union speech Tuesday night, interest in nuclear energy is rising rapidly as utilities consider building new reactors for the first time in decades. He also gave a plug for more "safe, clean nuclear energy." For that source of power, Bush is apt to get his wish. Utilities are discussing building at least 10 new nuclear reactors, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Last year at this time, only three new reactors were under consideration. No new nuclear plant has won an NRC license since 1978. Any new plant is still years away, although one utility says it hopes to begin construction in four years. Politicians, the public and utility executives largely lost interest in nuclear power after enduring huge cost overruns and difficulty running the plants efficiently. The partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island Nuclear plant and the catastrophe at Chernobyl seemed at the time to have buried nuclear energy. So why the new interest now? "It was passage of the energy policy act last year," said Scott Burnell, spokesman for the NRC. "Utilities started getting into detailed discussions with us." The energy bill demonstrates that if you want to encourage new sources of energy, come up with some money. According to the activist group Public Citizen, the bill grants up to $13 billion in subsidies to the nuclear industry. In his speech Tuesday, Bush mentioned ethanol, clean coal technology, and hydrogen as a fuel for cars. They all receive federal subsidies as well. "To keep our economy growing, we ... need reliable supplies of affordable, environmentally responsible energy," Bush said. The president's reference to ethanol must have pleased farmers. The gasoline substitute is distilled from corn, and is winning increasing use as a partial substitute for gasoline. Bush also promised to sharply cut petroleum imports from the Middle East, which supplies only about 20 percent of the nation's energy. Oil industry analysts say cutting imports from the Middle East would do nothing to lower prices or improve supply. Oil is a global product and its price and availability are determined by international supply and demand. "It is a pipe dream and it is foolish to talk about energy independence," said Edward Stuart, professor of economics at Northeastern Illinois University. Stuart said the nation's energy demands are so enormous, the country will never be free of the need to import petroleum. Because of its high price, very little petroleum is used to generate electricity. But at least some utility executives see a future for another kind of energy, that which comes from nuclear fission. A properly run nuclear plant generates electricity more cheaply than almost any other source. "The investment incentives in (last year's) energy bill will help offset some of the risks" of building a new nuclear plant, said Marilyn Kray, president of Nustart, a consortium of utilities including Chicago-based Exelon. In the past those risks included delays by regulators which resulted in construction cost overruns. Nustart is trying to obtain two licenses for new nuclear plants possibly to be built in Scottsdale, Ala. and near Fort Gibson, Miss. The plants would be operated by others. Exelon, with 17 reactors and the largest nuclear power producer in the country, says it is not enthusiastic about building a new plant any time soon. Chairman John Rowe has said he is not interested in a new plant until the government approves a final disposal plan for spent nuclear fuel, and that is years away. But New Orleans based Entergy, one of the nation's largest utilities, isn't waiting. The company has plans to add reactors to existing plants at Fort Gibson and St. Francisville, near Baton Rouge, La. Although the Fort Gibson plant would be licensed through Nustart, Entergy would be the actual operator. Construction of the Fort Gibson reactor would begin in 2010, according to Entergy's schedule. "We would do start up testing in 2014 or 2015," said Carl Crawford, an Entergy spokesman. He said the St. Francisville project would go on-line shortly thereafter, according to company goals. Crawford estimated the total cost of building a new nuclear plant at somewhere between $1.5 and $2 billion. During his address to the nation, Bush made a reference to encouraging conservation, not a prominent objective in earlier years of his administration. Some wish conservation was a major goal. Michael Mariotte, executive director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, said cutting consumption is quicker and cheaper than building new nuclear plants. "Increase energy efficiency," Mariotte said. "That means appliance standards, which this administration has not been fond of." Higher minimum standards for appliances, which includes everything from household clothes washers to commercial air conditioning to public street lights, would do much to curtail consumption. "Energy efficiency technology continues to improve dramatically," Mariotte said. "Saving energy, not using energy, is the most effective thing you can do." While conservation could reduce the growth in demand for electricity, proponents of nuclear power say new generating capacity will be needed in the future. Other factors favor nuclear energy, backers say. Federal regulators have simplified the licensing procedure for new nuclear plants. At least in theory, construction can begin earlier than was the case in the 1970s and 1980s. Meanwhile the nuclear industry touts itself as environmentally friendly because reactors give off no greenhouse gases. "The stars are aligned and it looks very positive for the future," said Mitch Singer, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry trade group. ___ (c) 2006, Chicago Tribune. Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com. |