|
|
Since the 1950s, nuclear energy has been an important part of the world’s fuel mix. In 2009, nuclear energy satisfied 14 percent of global electricity needs. In 2011, there were 440 nuclear plants in operation worldwide with 64 under construction in 15 countries.1
Some of the countries that rely most heavily on nuclear power for electricity generation (est. June 2011) include France (74 percent), Slovakia (51.8 percent), Belgium (51.1 percent), Ukraine (48.1 percent), Hungary (42 percent), Armenia (39.4 percent), and Sweden (38 percent).2 Nuclear power generates 20 percent of the United States’ electricity and represents 70 percent of its non-carbon power supply.3
The development of the civilian nuclear power industry in the United States was fostered by the policies of the Eisenhower administration. President Dwight D. Eisenhower first articulated the idea of “Atoms for Peace” in a speech in 1953. Congress was quick to act. In 1957, it passed the Price-Anderson Act, which capped the liability of private operators for reactor accidents at $560 million.4 This was an important first step in providing the insurance required to make the risks undertaken when building a nuclear power plant acceptable to the private sector.
Shortly thereafter, Eisenhower spearheaded the establishment of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the organization charged with promoting cooperation, safety, security, and technology in the global nuclear industry. In the 1970s, the newly created Department of Energy (DOE) took an active role in supporting nuclear power in the United States while the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was founded to regulate the adolescent industry.
A series of high profile accidents lessened the world’s interest in nuclear expansion and were a sobering reminder of the risks to public health posed by nuclear power generation. In 1979, a reactor at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania experienced a partial meltdown that unfolded over five days. Although no one was killed as a direct result of the accident, the debate about the safety of nuclear technology was rekindled.
Then, in 1986, in Chernobyl, Ukraine (then still a part of the Soviet Union), a full nuclear disaster occurred, unleashing a wave of radiation across Russia and Europe. The accident killed 31 people and caused lingering health effects for thousands more.
The most recent high profile nuclear disaster occurred on March 11, 2011 at the Fukishima Nuclear Power Plant in Japan when several of the plant’s reactors began leaking radiation and entered a meltdown in the wake of a 9.0 earthquake. The scope of the disaster has been compared to Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, prompting governments to reassess their nuclear policies. Germany decided to stop using nuclear power by 2022, and other countries consider the disaster a ‘big dampener’ for their nuclear ambitions.5
According to former member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Peter Bradford, proponents of clean energy in the form of nuclear power will have to face a “greatly heightened skepticism [and] unwillingness to have nuclear power plants located in one’s own neighborhood.”6
Resurgence of Interest
The last several years, however, have seen a resurgence of interest in nuclear energy largely because of the steady rise of energy prices since 2002. President George W. Bush led the way with a series of new nuclear initiatives overseen by the Department of Energy. In addition, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 adopted by the U.S. Congress established new tax credits and loan guarantees for reactor construction, offered insurance against regulatory delays, and renewed the Price-Anderson Act by increasing liability coverage to $10.9 billion 7. From 1973-2005, there were no new nuclear plants commissioned, but as of 2011, 18 reactors are projected to be added in 15 states.8
At the same time, there has been an increase in interest in nuclear energy among developing countries. Many governments view peaceful nuclear power generation as a right to which all nations are entitled and a vital component of their development strategies.There are more than 45 countries pursuing nuclear power programs in 2011. The majority of these countries are developing nations, but the list also includes developed countries such as Italy.9 India, with a population expected to eventually overtake that of China, has been one of the champions of this position. It is seeking to build an additional 16 to 25 reactors by 2020.10
Iran has, in its own way, also adopted a version of the entitlement argument, though many remain skeptical about its true intentions. Consequently, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 1696 (2006) by a vote of 14-1 (Qatar dissenting) requiring that Iran suspend uranium enrichment activities by the end of August 2006, but Iran has yet to comply with this mandate.11
The danger that nuclear technology and materials can be used to produce weapons now dominates the debate over the use of nuclear energy in developing countries.
Obstacles to Expansion
There are three primary obstacles to the development of the nuclear industry: cost, risk, and waste. A single reactor can cost between $2.7 billion and $8 billion (in 2008 dollars) to construct. As many power plant construction companies have learned, it is difficult to achieve any economies of scale that might boost profits.12
A Boiling Water Reactor
Source: http://www.uic.com.au/nip64.htm
But once the initial capital investment has been made, the costs of operating a reactor are relatively stable. This is mostly because, in contrast to coal- and gas-based power plants, the price of fuel for nuclear plants is only a minor component of a reactor’s operating expenses. Costs rise again when old reactors, containing large amounts of radioactive material, must be decommissioned and dismantled over the course of decades. 13
In addition, although there have been no major accidents since Chernobyl, a steady stream of minor problems has kept the dangers of nuclear power firmly in the public’s mind. Current forecasts predict that one severe accident will occur every 100 years in a network of nuclear plants such as that possessed by the United States, and there is much debate about whether this level of risk is acceptable.14
Finally, there is the issue of nuclear waste, probably the greatest hurdle to the expansion of nuclear power generation. Spent fuel units, while no longer capable of sustaining nuclear reactions, nonetheless continue to emit high levels of radiation for many years. They are cooled in underwater pools and then typically stored at sites at or near the reactor where they have been used.15 This method is, however, only a temporary resolution to the storage problem, and policymakers have long sought a more secure and permanent solution. In the United States, for example, a single repository site located under Yucca Mountain in Nevada has been proposed amid fierce controversy, which will be treated in the section on “The Cycle of Nuclear Power Generation.“
All three of these factors—cost, safety, waste—explain why the nuclear industry is so unique, requiring complex and wide-ranging partnerships between public institutions and private enterprises. The costs and risks to public safety are so enormous that governments must take an active role in supporting, regulating and monitoring the nuclear industry.
On a broader level, the implications of nuclear technology for global security make nuclear policy an increasingly central concern for all nations in the era of globalization. Globalization has dramatically increased flows of goods and people, making it more difficult for governments to control their borders. These developments, joined with the existence of large stocks of poorly secured nuclear weapons in the former Soviet Union and the emergence of rogue nuclear powers such as Pakistan and North Korea, has greatly increased the risk of nuclear terrorism faced by all countries
1 Nuclear Energy Institute “World Statistics.”
4 Cooper, “Energy and the Environment,” 165; Weeks 226
7 Holt, “Nuclear Energy Policy,” 1, 10
8 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission “New Reactors.”
9 World Nuclear Association “Emerging Nuclear Energy Countries.”
11 “Security Council SC/8792;” “Security Council SC/8928”
12 Holt, “Nuclear Energy Policy,” 2
14 Holt, “Nuclear Energy Policy,” 7
Next: Nuclear NonProliferation