Case for nuclear power. Founders Award Lecture, November 18, 1976
In the three years since the oil embargo, there have been many proposals for greater utilization of our domestic energy resources, but discouragingly slow progress toward adopting them. President Ford's generally sensible energy message of February, 1976 failed to gain the support of a Democratic Congress. Now that the elections are over with the President-Elect and Congress from the same party, it is not too much to hope that a national energy policy will be formulated that will provide for the future energy needs reliably, at an acceptable cost, with low environmental impact and with minimal risk of interruption from overseas. The author proposes to show how increased reliance on nuclear energy can contribute to these goals. Nuclear power plants using light water reactors now have a capacity of 42,000 MW and generate about nine percent of the electricity used in the United States. In some parts of the country 40 percent of the electricity now comes from nuclear plants. By the late 1980s reactors now in operation, under construction, and on order will have a capacity of over 208,000 MW, about 30 percent of the total U.S. capacity expected at that time. If the further projected expansion of nuclear capacity takes place, over 400,000 MW of nuclear power should be in operation by the end of the century, generating around 50 percent of U.S. electricity. The incentives for this increased adoption of nuclear power are its lower cost, the security of its fuel supply, and its lower impact on human health and the environment compared with oil and coal. (MCW)
- OSTI ID:
- 7294010
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
A National Demonstration Project Building the Next Generation
Federal energy policy: keep looking. Maybe it's in a drawer somewhere
Related Subjects
POLICY AND ECONOMY
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
ENERGY POLICY
NUCLEAR POWER
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
SAFETY
SECURITY
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
ECONOMICS
RELIABILITY
USA
COAL
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
ENERGY SUPPLIES
FINANCIAL INCENTIVES
FORECASTING
PETROLEUM
POWER GENERATION
PUBLIC HEALTH
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
POWER
POWER PLANTS
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
290600* - Energy Planning & Policy- Nuclear Energy
210200 - Power Reactors
Nonbreeding
Light-Water Moderated
Nonboiling Water Cooled