Affordable, reliable, continuous, and emissions free electricity would benefit billions on this planet.
Ronald Stein, P.E. is an engineer, columnist on energy literacy at America Out Loud NEWS, and advisor on energy literacy for the Heartland Institute and CFACT, and co-author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated book “Clean Energy Exploitations.”
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Oliver Hemmers has a Doctorate in Physics from the Institute of Radiation and Nuclear Physics at the Technical University of Berlin, Germany. He was a Researcher in Physics, the Executive Director of UNLV’s Harry Reid Center and C- level executive.
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Steve Curtis has a Master’s degree in Health Physics from UNLV. He has spent decades studying spent fuel issues in Nevada and worked as a technical field team leader for nuclear search and characterization missions for the Department of Energy. He is currently engaged in education, speaking, and writing in favor of nuclear power returning to the United States, especially from recycling spent nuclear fuel in fast reactors.
Co-authored by Ronald Stein, Oliver Hemmers, andSteve Curtis
Published October 14, 2024, in America Out Loud NEWS
Delivery of affordable, abundant, reliable, available, and clean, electricity to customers is paramount to modern quality of life. Recent announcements of the proliferation of data centers demanding double, and even triple the electricity supply will stress the current infrastructure. It’s time to stimulate conversations about unlimited electricity generation that is reliable, continuous, uninterruptable, and emissions free, to meet the needs of the end users.
Supplying such growth in demand for electricity is threatened by a vulnerable grid and the intermittency of low-density wind and solar electricity generation methods. The proven technology of nuclear power production is our only practical hope to keep up with the rapidly approaching demand.
Nuclear power has been providing electricity to the US Navy, France, and others around the world for almost 70 years. The technology is well-understood, and it boasts the best safety record of any industry (based on injury and death). The material left over from the current fleet of light-water reactors can be recycled to attain 30 times the electricity produced in the first time through. Such an advantage can provide energy security for billions around the world, greatly increase their quality of life, and relieve the fear of not having reliable and continuous electricity for all.
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) continues to advocate nuclear power to provide dispatchable electricity at the lowest cost for consumers.
The recent September 2024 report from the DOE, “The Pathways to Commercial Liftoff report” summarizes advanced nuclear that includes a range of proven and innovative technologies, and defines three size categories (large, small, and micro) for reactor designs:
- Large: Fast breeder and Light Water reactors (generally ~1000 MW) are essential for bulk electricity production.
- Small modular reactors (SMRs) are generally considered ~50 to ~350 MW provide choices for individual customers.
- Microreactors could serve a variety of use cases where reliability, transportability, and compactness are highly valued.
Nuclear generated electricity is proliferating around the world:
- France has more than 50 nuclear power reactors producing more than 70% of France’s electricity.
- Today, about 440 nuclear power reactors are in operation in 32 countries and Taiwan, with 62 new reactors under construction. As of August 1, 2023, the United States had 54 nuclear power plants with 93 operating commercial nuclear reactors in 28 states. These plants generate about 20% of the country’s electricity. Nuclear power has the competitive advantage of being the only baseload power source that can accommodate the desired expansion of a clean electricity supply to the end users that is emission free, continuous, and uninterruptible and timely.
- The nuclear power systems developed for the Navy have functioned well for over seven decades. All U.S. Navy submarines and aircraft carriers are nuclear powered. Other military services are now getting on board. The Navy’s seven-decade safety track record with nuclear generated electricity to support national security began before the formulation of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and all its regulatory roadblocks.
- Today, about 60 reactors are under construction across the world. A further 110 are planned. Most reactors under construction or planned are in China.
Filmmaker Oliver Stone released a movie called Nuclear Now. The movie is educational and entertaining. Oliver Stone points out several additional reasons for Nuclear Now:
- The Navy’s 40+ nuclear powered submarines can stay submerged for months and travel thousands of miles without refueling.
- During a 70+ year run, the Navy’s nuclear reactors have accumulated the equivalent of more than 6,000 years of nuclear reactor safety.
- Nuclear is the safest way to generate emission free electricity. Using the official internationally recognized death statistics for Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima, the combined loss of lives from the three major nuclear accidents is at most 32 people. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the combined effects of outdoor and household air pollution cause about 7 million premature deaths each year.
Nuclear power currently produces the least expensive electricity available today, considering that folks pay extra taxes in subsidies for coal and natural gas electricity production and as much as 100 times more subsidies for wind and solar power than we do in subsidies for nuclear power.
Rather than pursue renewables of wind and solar that require huge land footprints, huge taxpayer subsidies, and even then, only generate electricity occasionally, we must focus technology resources on our nuclear power production industry that has the best industrial safety record among all companies and a track record of producing the cheapest non-subsidized zero-emissions electricity.
Our government has struggled for almost 45 years to fulfill their responsibility to “dispose” of our “nuclear waste”. Since this “waste” can be recycled, it is a valuable asset, so let’s call it slightly used nuclear fuel (SUNF) since only about 3% of the electricity potential is realized from this fuel. We are on the cusp of a revolutionary innovation in electricity production, held back only by our Federal Government.
The recycling technology is called “fast reactor recycling”, or “fast breeder reactors”. Surprisingly, this technology has been around since before the current light water reactor technology existed. It has worked well, has produced extremely low-cost electricity, and promises even better safety features than the existing fleet.
Meanwhile, despite the DOE’s continuous support of the movement toward nuclear, the United States remains delighted to keep its head in the sand while France and other countries use nuclear generated electricity that is reliable, dispatchable, and zero-emission. The USA seems focused on wind and solar generated electricity that is the most expensive (without subsidies), unreliable, and NON-dispatchable! It also requires new expensive transmission lines at additional costs to the ratepayers.
A “New Nuclear Posture” for the US, via recycling Fast Breeder reactors for large demands and SMRs, that offer competition to lower costs, for smaller demands, offers electricity that is emissions free, continuous, and uninterruptible. This seems to be more practical than ever before to enhance the quality of life of more than 6 billion on this planet in developing countries, as well as for reliable power for military remote sites around the world and various power hungry industries. If the US will not take the lead, our adversaries will.
Please share this information with teachers, students, and friends to encourage Energy Literacy conversations at the family dinner table.
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