Nuclear Power Looks Ahead to Global Base Load Needs with Greener, Safer Technologies

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Written by Richard Finlayson, International Correspondent for Industralinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources Incorporated; Houston, Texas). For over two decades, the 1979 Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, nuclear accident in the U.S. and the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine have been the benchmarks for anti-nuclear policies and lobby groups. Now a growing and sustained move in the power industry, governments, and popular sentiment, including significant sections of the green lobby, are taking a renewed interest in nuclear projects. The safety fears, which are attracted to any project producing nuclear radiation, are being ousted by the need for a sustainable power source that will provide the scale of power output needed for base power growth with the least environmentally harmful emissions, at a cost commensurate with the rate of price increases in other major power feedstocks. New technologies are also intensifying safety margins by a major factor in an already safety-obsessed industry.

Energy crises in the 1970s, pre 1979, motivated a major global building boom for nuclear power stations. But, after 1979, only 53 of the 129 plants that had been approved at that time were finally completed.

Significantly a statement in the first week of May by Energatom, Ukraine's state- run nuclear power company, said that the country wants to build eleven new nuclear reactors by 2030 to boost its energy independence. Energatom operates all nuclear plants in the Ukraine.

This comes at time when the country is still pursuing a request that Western donors should provide over $990 million to replace the shelter that was quickly improvised to secure the core of the reactor destroyed by the meltdown.

With the permitted term of Ukraine's oldest reactors expiring in 2011, Energatom is looking at new projects with some urgency. It is focusing on the go-ahead for the first two new reactors at the Khmelnitsky plant in western Ukraine. There are also plans to modernize existing reactors. Energatom said that it intends to develop a centralized repository for nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel, as well as boost uranium production.

There are fifteen nuclear reactors currently in operation in Ukraine, and these were all built by Russian contractors. The country is still dependent on neighboring Russia for much of its energy supply. The EU has pledged finance for safety upgrades at the two latest reactors to be commissioned. The finance will come through a multi-million dollar program assisted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Another country where the nuclear wheel is turning is the UK, where the re-elected Labor government is expected move on a $23 billion nuclear plant building program in the country's energy building program. Anti-nuclear ministers have been moved, and a new Energy Minister, if appointed, would be on side with the program. Details will come in an Energy White Paper, which may mark the beginning of a plateau for plans for wind and other renewable energy projects. Base load power needs are behind this move.

A number of companies are in the running for any new nuclear plants. These include Amec (LSE:AMEC ) (London, U.K.) and BNFL's Westinghouse (London, UK). Mitsu (TSE:1821 ), Babcock (Danvers, Massachusetts), Bechtel (San Francisco, California), and Halliburton's Kellogg Brown & Root (NYSE:HAL) (Houston, Texas) are also expected to be in the running. New construction projects would compound the prospects of the nuclear contractors, who are also facing massive, long-term income from nuclear de-commissioning of old plants and nuclear waste disposal in the UK. For related news item see - April 11, 2005 - Nuclear Wastelands Going Out With Big Bucks Bang - Contractors Whimper with Delight.

In the U.S., moves are also underway which could lead to the country's first new nuclear reactor since the 1970s. NuStart Energy Development has contracted General Electric (GE) to design and seek and NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) license for its next generation Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) for one of two projects, which it has proposed to site at existing nuclear power plants. NuStart is an industry consortium made up of nine power utilities and two nuclear suppliers and is one of several groups working with the DOE to test the NRC's streamlined process to obtain a joint construction and operating license (COL) for the construction of a new nuclear reactor.

Westinghouse has also signed a subcontractor award with NuStart for engineering and licensing related work on its AP1000 advanced nuclear plant design. The DOE's Nuclear 2010 initiative is designed to help accelerate new reactor construction in the U.S. by providing a 50% cost share for preparation of construction operating license applications necessary for the development of new nuclear plants.

GE sees NuStart as the latest in a string of strong signals that the time has come to ensure that nuclear energy remains a significant part of the U.S. energy mix, according to Andy White, president and CEO of GE Energy's nuclear business.

Existing nuclear plants in the U.S., including Three Mile Island, have been undergoing major development and modernization, with the addition of new generating capacity and technology.

According to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) figures at the end of March, there were 441 nuclear power plants operating in the world, generating a total of 367,253 MW, and a further 25 were under construction, which would add another 19,866 MW. At the same time, the 104 plants in the U.S. contributed 19.9% of the country's generating capacity. In France, 59 plants contributed 77.7% of the country's generating capacity. These two countries led in the number of operating power plants. At the other extreme end of the scale, Lithuania had its sole nuclear plant generating 79.9% of the country's power.

By 2010 the global nuclear power scene will be in a state of dynamic change and growth, with Russia, China, and India seeing an ongoing wave of new nuclear capacity being commissioned and a spate of new projects in developing countries adding to the total. Many of the states that took pause at the end of the 1970s will again be adding nuclear power plants to their long-term energy mix. Nuclear waste disposal and de-commissioning of old plants will form a major section of the industry, and new generations of reactor technology will be proving their safety and power cost credentials.

See related news items - January 18, 2005 - Russian Nuclear Power Plans Gain Critical Mass with Up to Additional 30,000 MW by 2020 and - March 14, 2005 - Linked Coal and Power Crisis in China Heralds Major Nuclear Plant Projects.

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