Edward H. Klevans opines that what the future holds for nuclear power will have an important bearing on efforts in the U.S. and globally to reduce carbon emissions. Right now, we are not doing enough, fast enough to establish the policies necessary to keep existing carbon-free nuclear plants in operation and to build a new generation of reactors using advanced technology. In fact, nuclear power provides more than 60% of carbon-free electricity in use today. Environmentalists (Adversaries) who continue to insist that renewables can replace fossil fuels in electricity generation are engaged in a fuzzy-minded exercise of monumental folly.
The fact is, just 7% of the U.S. electricity currently comes from solar and wind power. Even in California, where the use of renewables is greatest, solar energy and wind combined provide only 12% of the electricity, at significant cost. To compete in energy markets without government subsidies, renewables must reduce their costs much faster than conventional energy sources and have access to energy storage technology for use on days when the weather is not cooperating. That will likely be decades away for any scale. In this uncertain environment, it would be imprudent not to plan for a future that includes nuclear power. We can not pretend that some magic energy source will appear suddenly and save us from the consequences of climate change. Fusion energy seems worth pursuing, but it is many years away. Superconducting transmission systems that would send power from the Great Plains to cities on the East and West coasts is more promise than reality.
Nationally, since 1990, increased operating efficiency in the U.S. fleet of about 100 nuclear plants has increased electricity production by an amount equivalent to adding 25 new 1,000-megawatt nuclear plants to the electricity grid. Last year, U.S. nuclear plants on average produced electricity 92% of the time compared with 35% for wind turbines and even less for solar arrays. SMRs?
From the Jewishchronicle.net but article has been withdrawn.
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