Submitted by Damon Bryson, Apr 23, 2007 08:39

There sure is a lot of misinformation about nuclear power, but that's nothing new. Here are some real facts about nuclear energy:

Nuclear energy is the cheapest form of power. That's why the utilities are planning to build more plants. They are businessmen, so they always pick the cheapest form of energy available at the time. Even before the Energy Policy Act proposed government funding, utilities were working on their nuclear build plans. The funding is actually not very large, so no company would change their mind on building just because of the possibility that the government might come through on the funding. Remember, it has been authorized, but not appropriated. Congress will be much different by the time it has to be voted into an annual budget. The utilities planning to build nuclear plants would be happy to take government funding (like all other forms of energy), but they aren't banking on it. They will build new plants anyway, because they supply the cheapest form of power.

Nuclear energy is the safest form of power. How many members of the public have been killed by commercial nuclear power plant accidents in the US? Zero. Nuclear plants are also a very safe place to work. Their accident rates are usually lower than office workers. Other power plants are much more dangerous.

Nuclear energy has the least impact on the environment. Nuclear waste is actually a great success story. We are collecting all the high-level waste and keeping it at the plant. Compare that to coal and gas plants, which spew their waste into the air for everyone to breathe. Coal plants release much more radioactive material than nuclear plants. Gas releases huge amounts of greenhouse gases, including from leakage and combustion. Nuclear plants are required to make the discharged water cleaner than when it was taken in. Nuclear plants have a small footprint and generate a large amount of power. Compare that to wind and solar, which require huge tracts of land to generate meaningful amounts of power.

Nuclear energy is the most protected vs. terrorism. All nuclear plants have a large, well-equipped security force and multiple barriers. Even if they were attacked, no members of the public would be injured. Terrorists have much softer targets than could result in more casualties for much lower effort. That's why no nuclear plants have been targeted for terrorist attacks. Terrorists may be misguided, but they aren't stupid.

Nuclear energy really only has 2 problems - construction time and political uncertainty. The construction time will be shorter on the new plants because lots of lessons have been learned about how to design and build the plants. That's hasn't been demonstrated in the US, but it has been in many other countries. The political uncertainty surrounds Yucca Mountain. Since the Dept. of Energy is required (by law) to take used nuclear fuel, we are left waiting for them to get their act together. The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership is a great step in that direction, since it will allow about 95% of the used fuel to be recycled. This has been needed for a long time, but the climate change issue has finally given it some momentum. Hopefully the new administration (of whichever party) will be smart enough to keep this momentum going.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.