Bowman: "America Needs Nuclear Energy Now!"

That was the title of an address that NEI President and CEO Skip Bowman delivered at Town Hall Los Angeles yesterday afternoon. You can find a copy of the speech by clicking here.

Here's an excerpt:

I do not believe the United States was, or is, facing an imminent energy crisis. This nation is blessed with an abundance of energy resources, a robust portfolio of energy technologies and the most ingenious and innovative people on the planet.

No: We do not have a shortage of resources or technology. We have a shortage of investment.

We are not facing an energy crisis. We are facing an energy investment crisis.

America’s energy infrastructure and, in particular, the electricity infrastructure, has been starved for investment for more than a decade. The new energy policy legislation is designed to address that issue—to ensure that investment capital flows to where it is needed; to provide investment stimulus for advanced, more efficient, more economic, cleaner electric generation technologies...

Nuclear power plants have three distinguishing characteristics. First, they produce large volumes of low-cost electricity around the clock at extremely high levels of safety and reliability. Second, they produce electricity at a stable price, without the punishing volatility we see with gas-fired generating capacity. Third, nuclear plants help maintain our air quality.

Three attributes: Reliable, affordable electricity at low cost. Forward price stability. Clean air.

Other sources of electricity have one or two of these attributes, but only nuclear plants have all three. That is what makes nuclear energy a unique value proposition, and that is why America needs more nuclear energy now.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Environment, Energy, Politics, Technology, Economics, Electricity, California, Los Angeles

Comments

Wednesday Update

From NEI’s Japan micro-site: NRC, Industry Concur on Many Post-Fukushima Actions Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues • There is a “great deal of alignment” between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry on initial steps to take at America’s nuclear energy facilities in response to the nuclear accident in Japan, Charles Pardee, the chief operating officer of Exelon Generation Co., said at an agency briefing today. The briefing gave stakeholders an opportunity to discuss staff recommendations for near-term actions the agency may take at U.S. facilities. PowerPoint slides from the meeting are on the NRC website. • The International Atomic Energy Agency board has approved a plan that calls for inspectors to evaluate reactor safety at nuclear energy facilities every three years. Governments may opt out of having their country’s facilities inspected. Also approved were plans to maintain a rapid response team of experts ready to assist facility operators recoverin...

Fluor Invests in NuScale

You know, it’s kind of sad that no one is willing to invest in nuclear energy anymore. Wait, what? NuScale Power celebrated the news of its company-saving $30 million investment from Fluor Corp. Thursday morning with a press conference in Washington, D.C. Fluor is a design, engineering and construction company involved with some 20 plants in the 70s and 80s, but it has not held interest in a nuclear energy company until now. Fluor, which has deep roots in the nuclear industry, is betting big on small-scale nuclear energy with its NuScale investment. "It's become a serious contender in the last decade or so," John Hopkins, [Fluor’s group president in charge of new ventures], said. And that brings us to NuScale, which had run into some dark days – maybe not as dark as, say, Solyndra, but dire enough : Earlier this year, the Securities Exchange Commission filed an action against NuScale's lead investor, The Michael Kenwood Group. The firm "misap...

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...

NEI Nuclear Notes

Search This Blog