Meserve: Barriers to New Nuclear Build Can Be "Overcome"

In a speech this weekend at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, former NRC Chairman Richard Meserve sounded bullish on the future of nuclear energy:

If all goes well, a leading national authority on nuclear energy said a renaissance in nuclear energy production is within reach.

Richard Meserve, president of the Carnegie Institute and former chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said he supported the effort but was mindful of potential challenges ahead. He spoke at a Director's Colloquium in the Physics Auditorium at Los Alamos National Laboratory on Thursday.

"The barriers are being and can be overcome," he said.

(snip)

Meserve discussed the delays in building the high-level nuclear waste depository at Yucca Mountain, but considers the problem of storing the spent fuel from nuclear power plants to be solvable, aided by the next generation fast reactors and reprocessing options that will lower proliferation risks.

"We ought to proceed anyway," Meserve said, adding it is another one of those technical issues that is not beyond the human capacity to solve.

"We don't have a crisis. We don't need an answer tomorrow," he said.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Used Fuel, Energy, Reprocessing, Technology, Electricity, Yucca Mountain