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Washington Times: Utilities Need to Take Advantage and Build New Nuclear

By Eric McErlain
In this morning's edition of the Washington Times, the newspaper has come out strongly in favor of expanding the use of nuclear energy:
To enhance America's national security and energy security over the long term, it is imperative that the United States expand its use of nuclear power. To this end, it is encouraging that the nuclear power industry has enthusiastically welcomed the incentives contained in the energy bill that Congress has just approved.
In turn, the editorial also echoed a concern we shared the other day, that many of the foreign sources of natural gas -- a fossil fuel that America has grown too reliant on -- come from regimes as unstable as the ones that provide our economy with oil today:
As it happens, Russia and the Middle East (particularly Iran and Qatar) control nearly 70 percent of the world's proven reserves of natural gas, whose electric-power-generating price has increased from $2 per thousand cubic feet in 1995 to nearly $7 this year. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has signaled his intention to cartelize the natural-gas market in the same way OPEC has established a cartel for oil. In an era when national security is inextricably linked to energy security, it would be counterproductive for the United States to become overly dependent on overseas natural gas, whose supply is controlled by nations that do not have America's best interests at heart.
If you look at this graph from the State Department, you'll find that Iran flares about 10 percent of its natural gas supply every year -- enought to generate 4,000 megawatts of power continuously. Thanks to the View from Benambra for the pointer.

And in conclusion:
Considering the national-security implications related to our dependence on imported oil today and imported natural gas in the future, these incentives are well worth their nominal cost. Other industrialized nations prudently use nuclear-power to generate much higher percentages of electricity: France, 78 percent; Sweden, 50 percent; South Korea, 40 percent; Germany, 28 percent; and Japan, 25 percent. The nuclear power industry should take advantage of the incentives so that the United States can join those nations.
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