Business Week: New Atomic Age on the Horizon

The latest edition of Business Week (registration required) includes an article outlining the resurgence of nuclear power and the possibility of new-plant construction:

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."

... The public has become more accepting. The percentage of Americans who favor nuclear power jumped from 46% in 1995 to 70% in May, 2005, according to Bisconti Research. Some communities are actually backing new plants. In Calvert County, Md., where Constellation Energy has proposed adding a new reactor to an existing facility, "we are doing everything we can to see that kind of investment made in the county," says David Hale, president of the county board of commissioners.

There have also been technological improvements. The basic approach hasn't changed, but new designs are easier to build and operate -- and better able to handle problems. They are "more safe by an order of magnitude," says MIT's Kadak. The industry expects progress on the waste front as well. New radiation exposure limits proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency for the Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada in early August could pave the way for the facility to eventually accept waste.

Add it up, and nukes no longer look like dodos.

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