Nuclear renaissance in the United States

George W. Bush signing the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which offered incentives for US nuclear reactor construction including cost-overrun support up to a total of $2 billion for six new nuclear plants.[1] Critics allege its primary purpose was to permit fossil fuel holding companies to monopolize utility generation.[2]

Between 2007 and 2009, 13 companies applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for construction and operating licenses to build 31 new nuclear power reactors in the United States. However, the case for widespread nuclear plant construction has been hampered due to inexpensive natural gas, slow electricity demand growth in a weak US economy, lack of financing, and uncertainty following the Fukushima nuclear disaster.[3]

Most of the proposed 31 reactors have been canceled, and only four reactors are under construction.[4][5][6] Only a few new reactors will enter service by 2020.[3] In 2013, four reactors were permanently closed: San Onofre 2 and 3 in California, when anti-nuclear activists seized upon a maintenance shutdown to delay the facility's re-opening by filing expensive and time-consuming legal challenges, Crystal River 3 in Florida, and Kewaunee in Wisconsin.[7][8] Vermont Yankee, in Vernon, was closed on Dec. 29, 2014, following protests.

The Fukushima nuclear disaster delayed plans for the construction of new plants in the nation.[9]

Overview

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 offered the nuclear power industry financial incentives and economic subsidies that, according to economist John Quiggin, the "developers of wind and solar power could only dream of". The Act provides substantial loan guarantees, cost-overrun support of up to $2 billion total for multiple new nuclear power plants, and the extension of the Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act through to 2025. The Act was promoted as a forerunner to a "nuclear renaissance" in the United States, with dozens of new plants being announced.[10]

Others saw the Act, which repealed the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA), as an attempt by oil and gas interests to monopolize utility generation through deregulation. Former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission administrator Lynn Hargis noted in 2005 that "PUHCA prohibits the re-creation of the huge holding companies (the Power Trusts) that grew up in the 1920s and ‘30s, when three utility holding companies owned nearly half of all the electric utilities in the country." She correctly predicted that repealing PUHCA would lead to "massive consolidation of utility ownership."[11][12] Within one year of PUHCA's August 2005 repeal the spot price of natural gas had dropped by 26%,[13] creating a financial incentive for utilities to abandon nuclear generation in favor of natural gas. Many license applications filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for proposed new reactors were suspended or cancelled.[5][6]

As of early 2016, the plans for 31 new renaissance reactors in the United States have been translated into four reactors beginning construction. These include Virgil C. Summers Units 2 and 3, Vogtle units 3 and 4 and Watts Bar, in Tennessee, which was begun in 1973 and is now online (2016).[14][15] Matthew Wald from the New York Times has reported that "the nuclear renaissance is looking small and slow".[16]

In 2008, the Energy Information Administration projected almost 17 gigawatts of new nuclear power reactors by 2030, but in its 2011 projections, it "scaled back the 2030 projection to just five".[17] A survey conducted in April 2011 found that 64 percent of Americans opposed the construction of new nuclear reactors.[18] Yet five months later a survey sponsored by the Nuclear Energy Institute found that "62 percent of respondents said they favor the use of nuclear energy as one of the ways to provide electricity in the United States, with 35 percent opposed".[19]

As of December 2011, construction by Southern Company on two new nuclear units has begun, and they are expected to be delivering commercial power by 2016 and 2017.[20][21] In the wake of Fukushima, experts at the time saw continuing challenges that they felt would make it difficult for the nuclear power industry to expand beyond a small handful of reactor projects that "government agencies decide to subsidize by forcing taxpayers to assume the risk for the reactors and mandating that ratepayers pay for construction in advance".[22]

As of 2014, the U.S. nuclear industry began a new lobbying effort, hiring three former senators — Evan Bayh, a Democrat; Judd Gregg, a Republican; and Spencer Abraham, a Republican — as well as William M. Daley, a former staffer to President Obama. The initiative is called Nuclear Matters, and it has begun a newspaper advertising campaign.[23]

Detailed history

Nuclear power has proved controversial since the 1970s. Highly radioactive materials may overheat and escape from the reactor building. Nuclear waste (spent nuclear fuel) needs to be regularly removed from the reactors and disposed of safely for up to a million years, so that it does not pollute the environment. Recycling of nuclear waste has been discussed, but it creates plutonium which can be used in weapons, and in any case still leaves much unwanted waste to be stored and disposed of. Large, purpose-built facilities for long-term disposal of nuclear waste have been difficult to site, and have not yet reached fruition.[24] Specific controversies, and projects which have not proceeded according to plan, include:

See also

References

  1. John Quiggin (8 November 2013). "Reviving nuclear power debates is a distraction. We need to use less energy". The Guardian.
  2. https://www.citizen.org/documents/puhcafordummies.pdf
  3. 1 2 Ayesha Rascoe (Feb 9, 2012). "U.S. approves first new nuclear plant in a generation". Reuters.
  4. Peter A. Bradford. Delivering the nuclear promise, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, June 2016.
  5. 1 2 Eileen O'Grady. Entergy says nuclear remains costly Reuters, May 25, 2010.
  6. 1 2 Terry Ganey. AmerenUE pulls plug on project Columbia Daily Tribune, April 23, 2009.
  7. 1 2 Mark Cooper (18 June 2013). "Nuclear aging: Not so graceful". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
  8. 1 2 Matthew Wald (June 14, 2013). "Nuclear Plants, Old and Uncompetitive, Are Closing Earlier Than Expected". New York Times.
  9. Sovacool, BK and SV Valentine. The National Politics of Nuclear Power: Economics, Security, and Governance (London: Routledge, 2012), p. 82.
  10. John Quiggin (8 November 2013). "Reviving nuclear power debates is a distraction. We need to use less energy". The Guardian.
  11. http://www.citizen.org/documents/PUHCArepealfordummies.pdf
  12. "The Coming Wave of Utility Consolidation/work". Investing Daily. 27 July 2012.
  13. "Henry Hub Natural Gas Spot Price". U.S. Energy Information Administration (eia). Feb 10, 2016 [weekly]. Retrieved 12 Feb 2016.
  14. Matthew L. Wald (December 7, 2010). Nuclear ‘Renaissance’ Is Short on Largess The New York Times.
  15. "Team France in disarray: Unhappy attempts to revive a national industry". The Economist. December 2, 2010.
  16. Matthew L. Wald. (September 23, 2010). "Aid Sought for Nuclear Plants". Green. The New York Times.
  17. Mark Cooper (July 2011). "The implications of Fukushima: The US perspective". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. p. 8.
  18. 1 2 M. V. Ramana (July 2011). "Nuclear power and the public". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. p. 44.
  19. 1 2 "Americans' Support for Nuclear Energy Holds at Majority Level 6 Months After Japan Accident". PR Newswire. 3 October 2011.
  20. http://www.southerncompany.com/nuclearenergy/construction.aspx
  21. http://www.southerncompany.com/nuclearenergy/southern_nuclear.aspx
  22. "Experts: Even higher costs and more headaches for nuclear power in 2012". MarketWatch. 28 December 2011.
  23. Matthew Wald (April 27, 2014). "Nuclear Industry Gains Carbon-Focused Allies in Push to Save Reactors". New York Times.
  24. Congressional Research report, Nuclear Energy: Overview of Congressional Issues, CRS Report, 2015.
  25. http://www.richmond.com/business/local/article_7a8900ad-9969-538a-a272-b3e794edc9a4.html
  26. "6 arrested in protest at North Anna site". Daily Progress. August 7, 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-16.
  27. TVA plan for Ala. nuclear plant drops to 1 reactor
  28. Matthew L. Wald. Aid Sought for Nuclear Plants Green, September 23, 2010.
  29. Letter from Michael J. Wallace, Constellation Energy, to US Department of Energy Deputy Secretary Dan Poneman, October 8, 2010. .
  30. "Dominion's 3rd-quarter net income declines". WTOP Radio. Oct 29, 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  31. 1 2 Christian Parenti (April 18, 2011). "Nuclear Dead End: It's the Economics, Stupid". The Nation.
  32. NRG ends project to build new nuclear reactors
  33. Matthew L. Wald (April 19, 2011). "NRG Abandons Project for 2 Reactors in Texas". New York Times.
  34. Ivan Penn (January 26, 2012). "Progress Energy looking to cancel main construction contract for building Levy County nuclear plant". Tampa Bay Times.
  35. "Exelon scraps Texas reactor project". Nuclear Engineering International. 29 August 2012.
  36. Matthew L. Wald. A Nuclear Giant Moves Into Wind The New York Times, August 31, 2010.
  37. "Top climate change scientists' letter to policy influencers". CNN.com. 3 November 2013.
  38. 1 2 Mark Cooper (July 18, 2013). "Renaissance in reverse" (PDF). Vermont Law School.
  39. Matthew L. Wald (August 1, 2013). "Florida Nuclear Project Is Dropped". The New York Times. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  40. PennIvan Penn (August 1, 2013). "Duke Energy to cancel proposed Levy County nuclear plant". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved August 3, 2013. In May, the Times reported that, over a 60 year lifespan, the Levy plant would cost more than an equivalent natural gas plant under any reasonable scenario.
  41. "Levy nuclear plant project shelved". World Nuclear News. 2 August 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  42. "Nine Mile Point COL lodged". World Nuclear News. 2 October 2008. Retrieved 8 October 2008.
  43. Associated Press (6 December 2013). "Effort to build new Lake Ontario nuke plant halted". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  44. "U.S. Support for Nuclear Energy at 51%".
  45. "Watts Bar Completion". Bechtel Corp. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  46. "First American Nuke Plant In 21st Century To Open Soon". Forbes.
  47. "Obama Administration Announces Actions to Ensure that Nuclear Energy Remains a Vibrant Component of the United States' Clean Energy Strategy". whitehouse.gov.

External links

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