AP Looks at the Nuclear Energy Comeback

With utilities looking ahead and seeing increased electricity demand, building new nuclear generating capacity becomes a real possibility. Here's an excerpt from a story by the AP's H. Josef Hebert:

“Adding nuclear capacity ... makes a lot of sense,” says Henry “Brew” Barron, in charge of nuclear operations at Duke Power, a subsidiary of Duke Energy that serves 2 million customers in the Carolinas. By 2014, Duke will need at least one more large power plant to meet demand in one of the country’s fastest growing regions. Many other utilities around the country are facing similar electricity demands.

Once the logjam is broken with the first orders, the U.S. reactor market could become the world’s second largest, after China, given expected growth in U.S. electricity demand and environmental and cost concerns about rival fossil fuels, says Andy White, president of GE Energy’s nuclear business. (GE is the parent of NBC, which is a partner in MSNBC.)

“We’ve probably never had a better situation,” White said in an interview, predicting that 60 or more new reactors may be built in the United States over the next 20 to 30 years with several designs finding customers.

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

Comments

Anonymous said…

Sir:
Re: AP looks...
Here is some pertinent history and a projection:

USA numbers: today tomorrow
Transport 30%
Heat 30%
Electricity 40% 80%

Transport is oil.
Heat is natural gas.
Electricity today is 50% coal 20% nuclear.
Tomorrow's scenario is on the way because of Kyoto concerns.
It will not be coal.
Vern Cornell

June 15, 2005 at 4:35 PM

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