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Nuclear Power? Why in Idaho?
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NIMBY – the acronym for not in my backyard! Idahoans should embrace nuclear power to supply our clean energy needs and reject the arguments of those who would deny us those benefits based on emotion and distorted information.
I am an engineer who began his nuclear power career in 1968 working with General Electric’s Nuclear Power Divisions. Over my long career, I have developed expertise in reactor design, reactor safety, and nuclear waste management. Nuclear power has a proven safety record. There are over 104 nuclear power plants in the U.S. and just over 500 around the world. In spite of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, the industry’s safety record over the last 40 years is outstanding. No lives have ever been lost to a nuclear accident in the U.S. nuclear power program. No other industry can match that safety record. New nuclear plant designs will offer even better reliability and greater safety. The nuclear waste disposal issue has scientifically sound and safe solutions; other countries have reprocessed their spent fuel into new fuel for decades. We reprocessed U.S. Navy fuel in Idaho for many years. Implementing our spent fuel management options – disposal at Yucca Mountain or fuel reprocessing – is impeded by political opposition not science.
Idaho needs reliable and clean electric power. Currently, Idaho relies on out-of-state imports for about 80 percent of its energy needs, all of it from fossil fuels. That includes half of its electric power and all of its natural gas. Water power supplies most of the rest of our electricity and wind and other renewables are less than 1 percent. Most of the renewable sources depend on the weather and its variability. We clearly do not want to dam any more rivers. For the future, only coal and nuclear power can economically fill the void for large scale, reliable power generation. Power from natural gas-fired turbines, the choice during the 1990’s, has become extraordinarily expensive and the cost keeps increasing. Furthermore, natural gas for this power source is same fuel we use for heating our homes. I have seen my gas bills increase nearly three fold in the last 10 years largely caused by the demand from gas turbines. We don’t need higher home heating bills – we need nuclear power.
More importantly, the benefits of nuclear power are many. It is environmentally clean and reliable. Nuclear plants emit no greenhouse gases or other air pollutants, emit less radioactive emissions than a coal plant, and have a physically small environmental footprint. Nuclear power plants operate reliability with most U.S. plants exceeding 90ˇpercent on line time. Nuclear plants are not sensitive to extreme weather conditions. They operate when the Idaho weather dips below zero – when the wind is often very still and the coal piles freeze. Lastly, producing nuclear electric power contributes to our national security and energy independence. We can reduce the amount of natural gas burned in turbines and save it for home heating purposes. We can stop heating with oil.
The economic benefits are also large. In Idaho, nuclear power will provide for our needs and a portion of the power will be sold to other states; however, all of the economic benefits occur in Idaho. Construction jobs, operations jobs, and local property taxes are the largest and direct benefits. In addition, power plant service companies will bring other jobs to the area.
So, while the debate will intensify and the opposition will only drag out the tired and worn out arguments, Idahoans should embrace this greenhouse gas free, power source and enjoy the environmental, economic and energy benefits.
William Quapp is a mechanical engineer and environmentalist who has lived in Idaho Falls for most of the last 35 years. He is currently involved in developing waste to energy solutions using gasification technologies.
WILLIAM QUAPP
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