Notes From the Nuclear Energy Assembly

Sorry for the lack of posts today, as I've been busy working at NEI's annual meeting, the 2005 Nuclear Energy Assembly here in Washington, D.C.

For the annual State of the Industry address by Robert McGhee, Chairman and CEO of Progress Energy and NEI's Vice Chairman, Click here. For NEI President and CEO Skip Bowman's speech, "A Time of Opportunity, A Time of Action," click here.

Here's an excerpt from the Bowman speech:

The timing is indeed right for action. To continue establishing the conditions, the business environment, for new nuclear.

We are not there . . . yet!

But look at what our industry is doing … testing the new licensing process.

Wall Street has made it clear what is needed to gain the confidence to finance a new plant project.

We’re helping each other demonstrate that the new regulatory processes for next generation reactors can work.

That also sends a message to our decision-makers: As I said earlier, we have a vital role to play in enhancing America’s energy security and reducing dependence on unstable nations for energy supply.

That sends a message to the 70 percent of the American public who favor nuclear energy – a record high for the industry. It says we are serious about meeting the public’s demand for energy in a manner that also protects our environment and the air we breathe.

Again, who would have believed that the co-founder of Greenpeace would tell Congress that—quote—nuclear energy . . . combined with the use of renewable energy sources . . . remains the only practical, safe and environmentally sensitive means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and addressing energy security?

But Patrick Moore did just that three weeks ago.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Environment, Energy, Politics, Technology, Economics

Comments

Activists' Claims Distort Facts about Advanced Reactor Design

Below is from our rapid response team . Yesterday, regional anti-nuclear organizations asked federal nuclear energy regulators to launch an investigation into what it claims are “newly identified flaws” in Westinghouse’s advanced reactor design, the AP1000. During a teleconference releasing a report on the subject, participants urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend license reviews of proposed AP1000 reactors. In its news release, even the groups making these allegations provide conflicting information on its findings. In one instance, the groups cite “dozens of corrosion holes” at reactor vessels and in another says that eight holes have been documented. In all cases, there is another containment mechanism that would provide a barrier to radiation release. Below, we examine why these claims are unwarranted and why the AP1000 design certification process should continue as designated by the NRC. Myth: In the AP1000 reactor design, the gap between the shield bu...

How many nuclear plants does it take to meet the world's energy needs?

Several weeks ago Joshua Pearce at Clarion University in Pennsylvania released a study titled “ Thermodynamic limitations to nuclear energy deployment as a greenhouse gas mitigation technology .” In the study he stated... nuclear energy production would have to increase by 10.5% per year from 2010 to 2050 to both replace fossil-fuel-energy use and meet the future energy demands. This line, of course, made the headlines and has been picked up by several outlets and blogs . When looking into his calculations for this statement, he made one assumption error that overstated the above sentence by nearly a factor of three. Page 121, Section 4.1 of the study states: Richard Smalley pointed out that in 2004, the global economy consumed the equivalent of 220 million barrels of oil per day, which converted into electricity terms is the equivalent of 14.5 TeraWatts (TW), or 14,500,000 MegaWatts (MW) (2005). … With a nuclear plant having about 1000 MW (1 GW) of capacity, we would need 14,500...

What Happens During a Refueling Outage?

You may have noticed over the past few weeks that a number of nuclear plants are shut down for refueling outages or are resuming operations after just returning from one. This type of routine outage usually occurs in the spring or fall when electricity demand is low so that nuclear reactors can replace about one-third of the spent fuel rods with new fuel and conduct other routine maintenance and repairs at the plant. To get a better sense of how refueling works at a nuclear energy facility, I spoke with Marcus Nichol, NEI’s senior project manager for used fuel storage and transportation, and asked him to explain the basics. Why does a nuclear plant need to replace one-third of its fuel? Nichol: The main purpose of a refueling outage is to replace older fuel that is depleted—meaning it can no longer efficiently produce energy from nuclear fission reactions—with new fuel. This “used fuel” has typically been used in the reactor for four-and-a-half to six years before it is pe...

NEI Nuclear Notes

Search This Blog