nuclear-news

The world waits for outcome at Fukushima, ? shift from nuclear power

What’s the Cost of Shifting Away from Nuclear Power? TIME, by Bryan Walsh Wednesday, March 16, 2011 The news from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan just keeps getting worse. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said that at least a “partial meltdown” seemed to be happening, and today the U.S. government advised its citizens to stay at least 50 miles away from the Fukushima plant. The worst-case scenario—a release of a large amount of radiation across a wide geographic area—could still be avoided, but there’s little evidence that the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) or the Japanese government are up to the challenge. The head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission told a Congressional hearing today that he believed that the spent fuel rods in reactor number 4 were likely fully exposed—and though he was later contradicted by Japanese authorities, data from the International Atomic Energy Agency indicates that something is going very wrong at number 4. The one strand of hope left is the possibility that a power cable to the plant could be repaired soon, which might allow pumps to supply a steady steam of water to the reactor cores and spent fuel pods, both of which are running dangerously dry.
But even if TEPCO is able to pull of a last-minute miracle, averting a full-scale meltdown and a dangerous release of radiation, Fukushima will still rank as the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl—a fact that will weigh on the global nuclear industry. After experiencing a renaissance in recent years, if not so much in the U.S.—worldwide 220 reactors are being built or planned, with more on the drawing board—the nuclear industry won’t emerge unscathed from Fukushima. Already governments around the world have begun to slow down new nuclear plant construction and increase safety checks on existing reactors.Germany—where a large portion of the population was already hostile to nuclear power—has gone the furthest. Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that a three-month moratorium on the government’s plan to extend the lifespan of German nuclear plants, and she just decided to shut down seven of the country’s oldest reactors, with at least three of them set to remain offline permanently. China—the world’s leader on new nuclear construction—has announced that it would suspend new nuclear plant approvals until it could strengthen safety standards. In the U.S.—where a new nuclear plant hasn’t begun construction since Three Mile Island in 1979—the Fukushima accident certainly won’t help the efforts of politicians on both sides of the aisle to renew nuclear’s role the country’s electricity supply………

Whatever the safety concerns, it seems unlikely that Fukushima would lead to the U.S. following Germany’s model and actually mothballing existing plants—the influence of the nuclear industry makes that certain. While Senate Democrats have called for a systematic review of U.S. nuclear reactors, Energy Secretary Steven Chu told a Congressional hearing that the President still supported new atomic plants, with a White House budget calls for $36 billion in loan guarantees for new reactors. America has 104 nuclear reactors, and they’re not going anywhere for the time being……..

Plans to remake the world’s energy system will have to wait for now, as we watch an unprecedented drama unfold in Japan. If we do see nuclear power decline, the most likely replacement in the short term won’t be millions of wind turbines or vast solar arrays, but lots and lots of natural gas.Vast new shale gas deposits in the U.S. and other countries, plus the possibility of liquified natural gas from places like Australia means that natural gas is ready to step up as a steady source of electricity—even if it comes with its own environmental uncertainties………there’s no doubt that the memory of Fukushima will weigh heavily the next time a country debates over building an atomic plant.

As Conditions Worsen at Japan’s Troubled Nuclear Plant, Experts Show That Replacing Atomic Power Would Come with a Cost – Ecocentric – TIME.com

March 18, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general