UNLIKE MANY OTHER SECTORS OF THE U.S.
economy, the nuclear energy industry is growing. In
fact, it's beginning to boom, with the potential to
help the United States reduce its carbon footprint
while also making a major and positive impact on the
U.S. economy over both the near and long term.
In spite of the recent economic downturn, energy
demand has risen fairly steadily over the past
several decades, while investments in new electric
generating capacity have lagged. To keep pace with
the rising demand for energy and to remain
competitive in the global economy, the country will
need to add significant new electric generating
capacity.
America's fossil fuel-based generating capacity is
aging. Replacing the existing infrastructure and
adding new capacity to meet growing demand will also
have to meet the demand for green energy, helping to
reduce greenhouse gases and the use of carbon-based
fuels. But sources such as solar and wind account
for less than 10 percent of our electricity supply,
and for these sources to meet future demand would
not be feasible in many parts of the country.
The growth in overall U.S. electricity demand is
expected to increase by as much as 30 percent over
the next 25 years. To meet that demand and replace
those aging fossil fuel plants, the electric utility
industry may need to invest as much as $2 trillion
in new generation and transmission during that time
period. What's more, it must add this new capacity
while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Today, there are 104 nuclear power stations in the
country, which supply 20 percent of our electricity
needs while producing zero emissions of any harmful
greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, sulfur
dioxide or nitrogen oxides. Together, nuclear and
renewables represent the 27 percent of America's
total electricity supply that comes from clean
energy sources, and nuclear power produces
three-quarters of it, according to the U.S. Energy
Information Administration.
Clearly, the best way forward is to expand the role
of nuclear energy in our domestic energy supply.
Although renewable sources clearly have an important
role to play in America's energy future, the cost
and physical limitations of solar and wind are
currently both prohibitive and impractical. Still,
America requires new sources of clean and
carbon-free sources of baseload energy to fuel
economic growth.
From an economic perspective, these operating
nuclear plants are already making a major
contribution to the U.S. economy through direct
spending in local communities and in tax payments to
federal, state and local governments. Building new
nuclear plants will only increase this already
significant economic stimulus.
For example, construction of each single unit
nuclear power plant will create 1,400 to 1,800
on-site construction jobs and hundreds of additional
support jobs during the construction period. Once a
plant is operational, an additional 400 to 700
permanent operational jobs will be created at
salaries that are typically 36 percent higher than
the average in communities and towns that are home
to nuclear plants.
As with existing plants, every new nuclear plant
will also produce approximately $430 million
annually in sales of goods and services in the local
community, creating or sustaining hundreds of
long-term, peripheral support jobs while also
providing annual state and local tax revenue of, on
average, more than $20 million to benefit schools,
roads and other state and local infrastructure
projects. And the Nuclear Energy Institute estimates
that federal tax payments from each plant amount to
approximately $75 million annually.
New nuclear plants will also provide a large
economic stimulus to the U.S. supply chain through
purchases of commodities such as steel, concrete and
thousands of electrical components. For example,
construction of each new Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear
power plant in the United States will require
procuring approximately 30,000 cubic yards of
concrete, 22,500 tons of rebar, 15,000 metric tons
of steel and 300 modules and assemblies.
Presently, 22 new nuclear power plants have been
announced for the United States, with six under
contract and four in the early stages of
construction.
The Nuclear Energy Institute estimates that private
investment in new nuclear power plants has already
created an estimated 14,000 to 15,000 American jobs
and many of these are at Westinghouse. This recent
job creation is just the beginning as the number of
new jobs created will likely increase dramatically
after 2013 when the first wave of new nuclear plant
construction begins in earnest.
The local benefits of a nuclear energy plant are
significant, particularly when weighed against the
overwhelming safety record of the current U.S. fleet
of plants and the reliability of the current
generation of plant design. Over the past 30 years,
more than 100 existing commercial reactors in the
United States have continued to operate safely and
efficiently without a single incident. As a result,
Americans now support the use of nuclear power for
electricity generation more than at any point in
history. According to a study commissioned by the
Nuclear Energy Institute, 70 percent of Americans
favor the use of nuclear power, whereas the country
was evenly divided on this question just 20 years
ago.
A nuclear renaissance has arrived and it presents an
extraordinary opportunity to help the U.S. economy
rebound. We should embrace this historic chance to
achieve energy independence and, at the same time,
provide the United States with the clean electricity
it needs to support robust economic growth well into
the future.
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