Nuclear Power Primed for Comeback

Washington Post ^

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Nuclear Power Primed for Comeback

Demand, Subsidies Spur U.S. Utilities

By Steven Mufson

Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 8, 2007; Page A01

CHEROKEE COUNTY, S.C. -- Two decades ago, after Duke Energy abandoned its partly built nuclear power reactors here, the site was sold and turned into a movie set. Director James Cameron used it to film "The Abyss," a 1989 movie about civilian divers who encounter aliens while trying to rescue a stricken nuclear submarine. Cameron filled the unused nuclear containment building with water and hauled a section of an oil rig, a tiny submarine and fiberglass rocks inside to make convincing underwater scenes.

Now there's a new twist in the plot: The nuclear power industry is trying to come back from its own abyss. With natural gas prices volatile and people anxious about climate change, the nuclear power industry is touting its technology as a way to meet the nation's growing energy needs without emitting more greenhouse gases. Over the next two years, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects applications to build as many as 32 new nuclear reactors.

For President Bush, getting new nuclear plants built has been a priority since his first months in office. "America should also expand a clean and unlimited source of energy: nuclear power," Bush said in May 2001. In a Gallup poll in March 2007, 53 percent of Americans surveyed favored the use of nuclear energy, little changed from the 57 percent who favored it when Gallup first asked the question in 1994.

[El Sordo]

I can hope.

But I fear there are still too many luddites.

[kylaka]

Wake me up when I can run my Barbecue with nuclear power. Otherwise, its just hypothetical stuff with limited practical uses.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Wake me up when I can run my Barbecue with nuclear power."

As long as you don't mind your barbecue being powered by electricity, you can do it today.

[Freedom4US]

Did engineers envision small scale reactors? DIY nuclear power, say - to save money of course - Heathkit would have offered one, maybe. "Tear Up Those Utility Bills!"

Congratulations on your purchase of the UX-299 Hobby-home Reactor!! Developed by recognized experts in the field in conjunction with leading universities, no corners have been cut in either materials or design for this model, no sir! This kit will provide years of enjoyment as you and your family bask in the warm, hypnotic glow of your reactor during those cold, wintry nights in January. The UX series are also fun, and yes, PROFITABLE, especially as you watch your friends and neighbors wrestle with ever higher electric bills. And, with the addition of the (extra cost) GT1100 power grid bus, you may offer your surplus power to those same benighted friends and neighbors and realize a small, but useful, profit!

[The Great RJ]

The irony is that the global warming zealots may push a resurgence of nuclear power as the only truly carbon neutral form of power generation. I remember the hippy vans in the 1970’s with bumper stickers reading “Split wood not atoms” ...today burning wood is regarded as an environmental sin.