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Attitudes vary widely when it comes to nuclear energy, yet as nations look to strengthen energy security, meet future electricity needs and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, increasingly more companies are announcing their intentions to build new nuclear power plants or restart old ones. And who exactly will operate these plants?
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The Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Unit 1, the largest nuclear plant in the world when it began operations in Alabama, shut down for 22 years after a fire and management issues. Last month, after $1.6 billion in renovations and 15 million man-hours, the plant came back online. Producing energy through the fission, or splitting, of uranium atoms, the new plant will provide electricity to more than 600,000 homes and businesses, increasing the national supply by 1,100 megawatts, according to KIFI Channel 8 Local News in Idaho.
“Right now the predictions are that this unit can pay back its restart costs in four or five years,” according to Browns Ferry spokesperson Craig Beasley.
This restart — which marks the first increase in United States nuclear generating capacity since 1996, when the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) activated Watts Bar Nuclear Plant — is an example of how U.S. utilities are showing interest in nuclear power as they search for “clean” energy sources.
More than 100 nuclear power plants operating in 31 states provide electricity to one of every five U.S. homes and businesses, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. Further, “they provide more than 70 percent of the electricity that comes from sources that do not emit greenhouse gases or other pollutants into the atmosphere, including renewable technologies and hydroelectric power plants.”
And as the nation looks to strengthen its energy security, meet future electricity needs and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, 16 energy companies and consortia over the past 18 months have announced their intention to file license applications with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build as many as 30 new nuclear power plants.
Indeed, “the outlook for nuclear energy is bright and growing brighter,” as recently noted by Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) board chairman John Rowe, chairman, president and CEO of Exelon Corp., the nation’s largest operator of nuclear power plants.
“But that is not the whole story,” NEI quoted Rowe as having said.
Challenges
The industry has proven its ability to operate nuclear power plants on a sustained basis at high levels of safety and efficiency at a time when demand for reliable electricity from clean-energy technologies is increasing. Since Three Mile Island in 1979, “we have had nearly 30 years of accident-free nuclear power,” Dave Hill, deputy director of science and technology of the Idaho National Laboratory, told KIFI Local 8.
Despite this favorable situation, “significant regulatory, financial and infrastructure challenges stand between where we are and where we need to be,” Rowe said.
He cited used nuclear fuel management, financing of capital-intensive projects, and future workforce needs as among the key challenges facing the industry. In separate remarks, NEI President and CEO Frank L. “Skip” Bowman identified a need for improved communications to solidify political and public support among people and entities who are increasingly — but sometimes tenuously — embracing nuclear energy.
“Yes, we see growing support for nuclear energy because it is a carbon-free technology, but it is not unqualified or unambiguous support,” Bowman said.
Global Perceptions
The majority of the world may be against the development and use of nuclear weapons, but attitudes vary when it comes to the development and use of nuclear energy: proponents of nuclear energy tout it as a form of “clean” energy, as it releases virtually none of the harmful carbon dioxide emissions associated with fossil fuel; yet the health and environmental costs of nuclear energy can be horrific. The possibility of accidents such as that of Chernobyl or Three Mile Island, the threat of nuclear terrorism, the potential for horizontal nuclear proliferation, the damaging effects from the entire nuclear cycle, from uranium mining to nuclear waste — all indicate a scary balance between the risks of nuclear energy and the benefits.
Indeed, attitudes vary globally. According to the World Nuclear Association:
• Nuclear power supplies 16 percent of the world’s electricity and 34 percent of the European Union’s;
• Fifteen (15) of the EU’s 27 members have nuclear power plants, with the percentage of electricity supplied ranging from 78 percent in France to just 3.5 percent in the Netherlands;
• France has committed to renewing its reactor fleet, Finland is building a new plant, Germany and Sweden have committed to phasing out nuclear power, and the Dutch have reversed a previous decision to phase it out;
• Italy used to have four nuclear power reactors, but it shut down the last two following the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 (although consideration is being given to building of new nuclear capacity);
• Booming China gets only 1.9 percent of its electricity from 11 nuclear reactors, but four more are under construction, 23 are in the planning stages, and there are proposals for another 54; and
• Worldwide, there are 437 working reactors, with another 30 under construction, 74 planned and 162 proposed.
And late last month, spot uranium prices advanced to US$125 per pound, up 73.6 percent since late 2006, according to Scotiabank’s Scotia Economics, which went on to report: “Global interest in nuclear power continues to grow, with 252 new reactors now under construction, scheduled or proposed.”
Unit 1 may not help as much as proponents hope, either. The day after the restart, operators had to shut down the reactor manually following a leak in the control system, as The Knoxville News Sentinel reported. “It’s an operating problem, it’s unfortunate, but it was not a safety problem,” NRC representative Ken Clark told Knox News. (TVA’s nuclear power division is headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn.)
Nonetheless, more than two-thirds of the 103 nuclear plants operating in the U.S. today have requested license extensions, and four new plant proposals have been submitted. According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, at least 25 more new plant proposals may be filed by 2013.
Constructing plants is one facet of the industry, but well-trained and alert people to operate them is another.
Staffing the Recharged Industry
Says Workforce Management:
It’s a replay of the 1960s, except that in the 21st century, there’s no pre-existing cohort of millions of baby boomers fresh out of college and raring to find jobs in the Next Big Thing. This time around, the industry will have to build its workforce, one recruit at a time.
By 2011, a wave of personnel could exit the industry — 27 percent through retirement and 13 percent for other reasons, according to NEI. “The average employee’s age industry wide is 48,” Workforce Management reports; a demographic survey completed last June revealed that 12 percent to 38 percent of Exelon’s workforce alone could retire within 10 years.
“Not only is the industry heading toward a retirement cliff, but there’s no safety net of new recruits or mid-career engineers behind them,” writes Bridget Mintz Testa at Workforce Management.
As such, the industry has been recruiting and TVA’s nuclear operation has identified about 50 “high criticals” out of a workforce of 2,700. Although knowledge is at risk, it’s not the crisis TVA originally feared in 1998, when the nuclear power industry first began to enjoy its surprising and (still) little-publicized renaissance of plant re-licensing and new plant proposals.
The restart of Unit 1 is expected to require the addition of more than 100 employees on an ongoing basis, bringing the total number of Browns Ferry employees to 1,250. Its annual payroll: $73 million.
Resources
Perceptions of nuclear power starting to change
by Joel Hillan
Local News 8, May 24, 2007
Unit 1 up and running
by Eric Fleischauer
The Decatur Daily News, May 23, 2007
Browns Ferry reactor shut down
by Andrew Eder
The Knoxville News Sentinel, May 24, 2007
Nuclear industry leaders identify challenges on road to U.S. nuclear energy renaissance
Nuclear Energy Institute, May 24, 2007
Representing the people and organizations of the global nuclear profession
World Nuclear Association
Reaching Critical Will — Nuclear Energy Fact Sheet
Nuclear reaction: staffing the nuclear power renaissance
by Bridget Mintz Testa
Workforce Management, April 23, 2007
An industry recharged
by Bridget Mintz Testa
Workforce Management, April 23, 2007
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France has nuclear energy and that has served them well. You cannot continue to depend on Arab oil to keep your lighting systems running because the Arabe world is very unstable and the daily supply of oil from there is not guaranteed. I prefer nuclear powered generators because France has proved that they are safe and efficient.
We must have nuclear power plants. It is insane not to have it.
Look to France, Russia etc. We already lost 15 to 20 years.
I can not forget OUR mistake to stop NUCLEAR POWER.
Sam