Is It Time to Revive Nuclear Power

Marlon Tatum
History 105 D
Prof. Schunk
10/6/2010

Is It Time to Revive Nuclear Power?

Twenty years ago, the worst nuclear plant accident in the nation occurred at the Three Mile Island plant. The nuclear industry has been waging a coordinated campaign to revive nuclear power in the United States. We are being told that nuclear energy is safe, clean (the answer to global warming) and an economical way to produce electricity. None of these claims withstand scrutiny.
It is well known that nuclear power production creates the deadliest and longest living wastes known to man. The technology to safely dispose of this waste has yet to be developed and it is becoming increasingly clear that safe storage is simply impossible to achieve. Nuclear plants only seem safe because government safety standards and Nuclear
Regulatory Commission oversight has been too lax. There are problems at U.S. nuclear plants just about every day, ranging from incidental to serious. Some of these problems are close to home. At a plant in Perry, Ohio (near Cleveland), partly owned by Duquesne
Light, the zirconium tubes covering the uranium fuel pellets are perforating, causing potentially dangerous radiation leaks within the reactor. The leaks are exposing plant workers to extra radiation and increasing the likelihood that more radiation would be released into the atmosphere in case of a serious accident.
There is a new concern about nuclear power. In states (including Pennsylvania) where electric deregulation has occurred, nuclear plants will have to run practically all the time to be competitive. Unlike other generators, nuclear plants are not designed to operate continuously. Safety is likely to be a casualty of the bottom line.
Nuclear power is not the clean energy its apologists claim. The smelting process used to make commercial grade fuel for nuclear plants contributes to greenhouse gases.
Secondly, in addition to the waste problem, nuclear plants pollute our air, only you cannot see, smell or taste what they emit. Some of the most toxic gases known to man are by- products of the fission process and are routinely vented from the "off gas" building at nuclear plants.
A gas-fired plant can be built for $350 per kilowatt (kW); wind turbines are being installed at less than $1,000/kw. A nuclear plant costs $3,000 to $4,000 per kw to build.
Nuclear fuel is relatively cheap compared to other fuels, but only if you ignore spent fuel permanent storage costs. When these and plant decommissioning costs are included, nuclear power is prohibitively more expensive, on a total cost basis, than other energy sources. Even nuclear power advocates are frightened by the prospect that these costs will be astronomical.
The fact is that nuclear power is obsolete. There are cutting-edge energy technologies available now that are competitive and more environmentally healthy. Despite being on the short end of government research and development funding, renewable energy technologies' share of U.S. generating capacity (11 percent compared with 14 percent for nuclear) is growing at double-digit rates. It is time for our political leaders to recognize that nuclear power is not worth further investment. As we are in the 21st century, Americans should demand increased utilization of 21st-century energy
technologies.