The Nuclear Renaissance Is Back, Industry Panel Says

Encouraged by a new poll showing public support, industry leaders predicted Wednesday that nuclear power will resume the “renaissance” it was enjoying before the Fukushima accident roiled the industry 18 months ago.
“The future of nuclear is looking pretty good,” said Jack Grobe, the executive director of Exelon Nuclear Partners, striking a much more positive tone than former  Exelon CEO John Rowe.

Grobe was among five industry leaders who lauded “The Future of Nuclear” Wednesday at the Great Lakes Symposium on Smart Grid and the New Energy Economy, held at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.
The panelists’ confidence stems in part from the nation’s fleet of aging coal plants, which are not expected to survive increasingly stringent environmental regulations.
“We will retire these old fossil fuel plants and have to replace them with something,” said Scott Bond of Ameren Missouri, the utility that operates the Callaway Nuclear Generating Station. “The question is, what do you replace them with?”
One obvious answer is a power plant that burns natural gas, which, thanks to fracking, is now so cheap and plentiful that Rowe said in March that it doesn’t make sense for new nuclear plants to compete.
Wednesday’s panel touted the stable price of nuclear fuel as insurance against the vagaries of most other fuel prices including, over the long term, natural gas.
“It’s not just an economic question,” said Exelon’s Jack Grobe. “It’s an energy diversity question.”
“There’s a lot of focus on gas right now,” Bond said. But “fuel diversity is the only safe place to be for a utility.”
Nuclear power may have stable fuel prices, but it faces an unstable regulatory environment subject to public doubts and political winds.
That’s why the Nuclear Energy Institute is touting the results of a poll it released this week.
“We just did a survey, and we had a strong majority of Americans–81 percent–who believe that nuclear energy is important for the nation’s future energy needs,” said Alex Marion, NEI’s vice president for nuclear operations.
“Eighty-two percent believe the U.S. should continue to develop nuclear energy to meet growing electricity demand, and about the same percentage support the idea of renewing operating plant licenses, as long as they meet NRC regulatory requirements.
“And 74 percent believe the nuclear power plants operating in the U.S. are safe and secure. So there is public support.”

Read More...