Also Heard from the NEA Podium

This morning’s Nuclear Energy Assembly session explored the socio-economic trends pointing to a vital role for nuclear power in our nation’s energy mix. Here is a sampling from the wide-ranging roster of speakers:

“Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, satisfying growing energy demand, making energy affordable and enhancing energy security are tasks that are difficult enough individually, but we need to do all of them at the same time. There’s no way around it: this effort requires bold leadership. We need our policymakers to look ahead and understand that we’re living in a new world that requires new approaches.” – Jack Gerard, president and CEO, American Chemistry Council

“Our top priority is the safe operation of the current fleet of U.S. nuclear power plants, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is also a global leader in safe regulation. We need to keep our place at the table to ensure a consistent regulatory environment.” – Dale Klein, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

“We have a strategic partnership between the nuclear energy industry and the Building and Construction Trades Department. Ours is an unusual relationship in Washington between organized labor and an industry. We have a common set of interests and mutual respect. We must strengthen our relationship further to enhance our chances of success in the halls of Congress.” – Mark Ayers, president, Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO

“I wish you great good luck on your endeavors for nuclear power. You are at the right moment. Go for it.” – Peggy Noonan, columnist for The Wall Street Journal and author

JoAnn Sperber

Comments

Anonymous said…

“Our top priority is the safe operation of the current fleet of U.S. nuclear power plants, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is also a global leader in safe regulation. We need to keep our place at the table to ensure a consistent regulatory environment.” – Dale Klein, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Sounds like more of the same :-/ Any plans to change fee structure for modularized low power/core approaches?

best regards & thanks for the good work to NEI and others
-t-

May 6, 2008 at 5:53 PM

Making Clouds for a Living

Donell Banks works at Southern Nuclear’s Plant Vogtle units 3 and 4 as a shift supervisor in Operations, but is in the process of transitioning to his newly appointed role as the daily work controls manager. He has been in the nuclear energy industry for about 11 years.

I love what I do because I have the unique opportunity to help shape the direction and influence the culture for the future of nuclear power in the United States. Every single day presents a new challenge, but I wouldn't have it any other way. As a shift supervisor, I was primarily responsible for managing the development of procedures and programs to support operation of the first new nuclear units in the United States in more than 30 years. As the daily work controls manager, I will be responsible for oversight of the execution and scheduling of daily work to ensure organizational readiness to operate the new units.

I envision a nuclear energy industry that leverages the technology of today to improve efficiency…

Why America Needs the MOX Facility

If Isaiah had been a nuclear engineer, he’d have loved this project. And the Trump Administration should too, despite the proposal to eliminate it in the FY 2018 budget.

The project is a massive factory near Aiken, S.C., that will take plutonium from the government’s arsenal and turn it into fuel for civilian power reactors. The plutonium, made by the United States during the Cold War in a competition with the Soviet Union, is now surplus, and the United States and the Russian Federation jointly agreed to reduce their stocks, to reduce the chance of its use in weapons. Over two thousand construction workers, technicians and engineers are at work to enable the transformation.

Carrying Isaiah’s “swords into plowshares” vision into the nuclear field did not originate with plutonium. In 1993, the United States and Russia began a 20-year program to take weapons-grade uranium out of the Russian inventory, dilute it to levels appropriate for civilian power plants, and then use it to produce…

Nuclear: Energy for All Political Seasons

The electoral college will soon confirm a surprise election result, Donald Trump. However, in the electricity world, there are fewer surprises – physics and economics will continue to apply, and Republicans and Democrats are going to find a lot to like about nuclear energy over the next four years.

In a Trump administration, the carbon conversation is going to be less prominent. But the nuclear value proposition is still there. We bring steady jobs to rural areas, including in the Rust Belt, which put Donald Trump in office. Nuclear plants keep the surrounding communities vibrant.

We hold down electricity costs for the whole economy. We provide energy diversity, reducing the risk of disruption. We are a critical part of America’s industrial infrastructure, and the importance of infrastructure is something that President-Elect Trump has stressed.

One of our infrastructure challenges is natural gas pipelines, which have gotten more congested as extremely low gas prices have pulled m…

NEI Nuclear Notes

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