If we can’t afford oil...

Andrew Kenny debunks the myth that nuclear power is inherently dangerous or bad for the environment – and hails a surge of new nuclear construction around the world

A new surge

Fifty-five years ago there were no nuclear power reactors. Today there are 444 of them producing 16 per cent of the world’s electricity. There was a surge of nuclear building in the 1960s and 1970s, but this petered out in the 1980s and 1990s, partly because of anti-nuclear fears strengthened by Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, but also because of the arrogance of the nuclear industry. Because nuclear was ‘the energy of the future’, they felt they didn’t have to contain costs, keep to schedules and deal promptly and efficiently with nuclear regulation. Long delays in licensing and commissioning pushed up capital costs disastrously.

Today another nuclear surge has begun. There are 35 nuclear plants in construction around the world, with the biggest number in the East. Another 93 plants are on order or planned in 18 countries; 200 projects are under consideration around the world, including 27 in the USA. Italy and Australia have also been considering nuclear power. This year South Africa will order 3000 MW of new nuclear plant (either AP1000 or EPR) to add to her only nuclear power station at Koeberg near Cape Town.

The nuclear industry has become more commercially minded and more aware of the absolute necessity of timely licensing and compliance with regulation. The new problems this time are a worldwide shortage of nuclear skills and manufacturing capacity for nuclear equipment, and indeed power plant in general. There is only one forge in the world, Japanese Steel Works, that can make the biggest nuclear reactor pressure vessels.

The old problem for nuclear power, public perception, remains. The safest energy source, is still seen as dangerous. Nuclear waste, the easiest waste of any energy source to dispose of securely, is still seen as an insurmountable problem. But there are signs that the tide of public opinion is turning in its favour. Let us hope so, because while our planet faces many problems for which we cannot see solutions, she does have a solution for future energy supply: nuclear power.

Andrew Kenny is a British-born engineer with a background in industry and energy research, who writes on politics and the environment for The Spectator and other publications. He lives in Cape Town

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Herbert Thornton

September 24th, 2008 1:24am Report this comment

What a pleasure it is to read common sense about nuclear power. The faster this resource is expanded the better and the sooner we will be rid both of the pollution caused by petrol powered vehicles and other burners of oil products - not to mention our consumption of oil being the source of huge funding for people like Osama bin Laden and their bloodthirsty, medieval ambitions.

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