"Energy Options: Nuclear" - Nuclear Power's Battle (Part 1)
Monday, October 29, 2007SUSIE GHARIB: Electricity demand in the U.S. is expected to increase 50 percent over the next 20 years. Nuclear power may be one way to meet that demand. Nuclear energy fell out of favor following the Three Mile Island accident three decades ago, but its reputation has been improving. And now, many utilities are making plans to build new reactors. Over the next four nights, Diane Eastabrook will look at the energy options of nuclear power. We begin with the potential of nuclear energy and the problems that come with building new reactors.
DIANE EASTABROOK, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: In Raleigh, North Carolina, late summer heat waves often throw air conditioners into overdrive. The added demand for power puts even more pressure on Raleigh's electrical infrastructure, already taxed by a growing economy and population. North Carolina's seemingly insatiable appetite for power is the reason Progress Energy wants to build a second nuclear reactor at its Harris plant, 20 miles southwest of Raleigh. Chairman and CEO William Johnson says it would be Progress Energy's first new reactor in 20 years.
WILLIAM JOHNSON, CHAIRMAN & CEO, PROGRESS ENERGY: You've seen a lot of new infrastructure like roads, schools, buildings. Of course you need new plants to serve those new facilities and so we're really looking at 10 years in the future. What will we need in the next 10 years to meet that growing demand that we've had in the last 20 years.
EASTABROOK: After decades of dormancy in the U.S., nuclear power is making a comeback. Increased energy demand and economics are two reasons. Utilities say nuclear power is cheaper than coal, oil or natural gas. The environment is another. The nuclear industry is promoting itself as a clean, environmentally friendly source of power. Nuclear power plants don't emit greenhouse gases that are believed to contribute to global warming the way fossil fuel plants do. Roughly 20 percent of the nation's electricity now comes from the 100 nuclear reactors that dot the nation's landscape. But the Bush administration, led by Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, thinks nuclear should play a larger role in meeting America's future energy needs.
SAMUEL BODMAN, SECRETARY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY: We need to double the number of reactors that we have available in the fleet nationally. So seeing it go from roughly 100 to roughly 200, I don't think is beyond the scope of what we are working at.
EASTABROOK: It has been 30 years since a utility company filed an application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a new reactor. But last month NRG Energy and the south Texas project nuclear operating company jointly applied for a license to build and operate two more reactors at their Matagorda County, Texas plant. The NRC says more than a dozen other utilities have signaled they plan to file applications over the next year to build another 30 reactors.
Most of the new reactors that utilities want to build over the next decade at existing nuclear plants like Progress Energy's Harris facility. That's because the utilities already own the land and have the infrastructure in place to support additional reactors. That advantage, coupled with a streamlined licensing process, could help pave the way for more nuclear plants. Still, NRC Chairman Dale Klein says it could be years before new reactors start producing power.
DALE KLEIN, CHAIRMAN, NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION: We will go through a rigorous review since we are the regulator. We have budgeted 30 months to do the technical review for the first application. Then there is a 12-month hearing process.
EASTABROOK: But experts agree nuclear energy's road to revival could be long and difficult. Cost is one possible roadblock. Analysts estimate a single reactor could cost up to $5 billion. Proposed government loan guarantees could help offset the expense. But Morningstar utilities analyst Paul Justice says unpredictable market conditions could make it hard for many utilities to foot the rest of the bill.
PAUL JUSTICE, UTILITIES ANALYST, MORNINGSTAR: If you run into problems with rising interest rates, rising capital costs, rising metals prices, that can also increase the cost of building a project that has to take five years to construct.
EASTABROOK: Safety is another issue. The industry's track record has improved since the Three Mile Island accident 28 years ago. But Kinette Benedict, executive director of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, says nuclear safety remains a concern and should outweigh economics.
KENNETTE BENEDICT, EXEC. DIR., BULLETIN OF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTS: I think it's important to remember that we need to think about the technological issues which aren't necessarily easily remedied by a market solution.
EASTABROOK: The general public also seems ambivalent about nuclear energy. While a Harris poll conducted last year found 30 percent of nearly 1,500 Americans surveyed had a positive perception of nuclear energy, the rest had neutral or negative perceptions. In North Carolina, a grassroots organization called NC Warn is already preparing to battle Progress Energy over its planned new reactor. NC Warn's executive director Jim Warren argues utilities and their customers should be seeking alternatives to nuclear and fossil fuels.
JIM WARREN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NC WARN: Our society in general needs to be getting much more energy-efficient and ramping up clean technologies: solar, wind and others.
EASTABROOK: Warn's points are not lost on Progress Energy's Chairman and CEO. Johnson says even if Progress gets a license for a new reactor, it may not necessarily build it.
JOHNSON: We're keeping that as an option for the next 10 years or so to see how renewables and efficiencies work out, what demand looks like, so we can build that plant if we need it, when we need it.
EASTABROOK: Analysts says that kind of caution is key if there is to be a nuclear energy renaissance in the U.S. They say the previous industry downturn partly resulted from utilities building too many nuclear plants too quickly. Experts think that is a mistake the nuclear industry won't repeat. Diane Eastabrook, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Raleigh, North Carolina.
