By Jarret Adams

Our 104 nuclear power plants play a critical role in helping America meet its demand for clean, safe and affordable electricity. They provide electricity for one in five American homes and businesses and are by far our largest source of electricity without greenhouse gases.

As we consider ways to meet our nation’s energy demands and increase our energy security while reducing our CO2 emissions, building new nuclear power plants makes a lot of sense. Each new nuclear power plant that we build also will create thousands of jobs and spur billions of dollars of investment in local communities. In this economic environment, who wouldn’t welcome new jobs and investment in their community?
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Discussing a newly proposed bill for renewable electricity standard, an editorial from the Washington Post asked lawmakers to consider all energy sources that help reduce our carbon emissions, including nuclear energy.

With both a carbon tax (our preference) and a cap-and-trade scheme politically out of reach, smart regulation could be better than nothing. But if the government is going to set rules, why not a technology-neutral carbon reduction standard, under which utilities would be required to reduce the carbon they emit per megawatt by adopting cleaner generation technologies? The government interest is in reducing climate change; the goal therefore is low-carbon electricity generation. If nuclear power, which produces no carbon, can help reach that goal, why should government aid only wind and solar? …Lawmakers should put their carbon-cutting policies in terms of carbon reduction and stop trying to decide who wins and who loses.”

Read the whole editorial, “Energy Roulette” here.

Well, it’s not arrogant when it’s true.


Just as the United States is the leading economy, AREVA is the leading and largest nuclear reactor builder in the world. AREVA is currently constructing four EPR reactors around the world – one in Finland, one in France and two in China. In addition, about 20 EPR plants are in the pipeline or under evaluation.

While this boom in construction and ‘Nuclear Renaissance’ perspective is a relatively recent trend, AREVA has been building the world’s reactors for decades. AREVA has built more than 100 nuclear plants—almost one quarter of the world’s operating reactors—using our design, engineering, and project management expertise.

AREVA remains the world’s largest builder of nuclear power plants, and the nearly 5,000 American employees are putting this nuclear experience to help the world’s leading economy – the United States – improve and expand its clean energy infrastructure. Seems like a good fit.

By Jarret Adams

The United Kingdom plans to build a fleet of new nuclear power plants to replace their aging reactors and meet the nation’s climate change goals, William Hague, U.K. Foreign Minister said Monday in New York.

“We have decided in Britain to build a new generation of nuclear power stations,” Hague told the Council on Foreign Relations. The U.K. government made this decision to reduce its carbon emissions and increase the nation’s energy security. Like France and other European nations, Britain must depend on imported energy sources to generate electricity.

France’s decision to invest heavily in nuclear energy has paid high dividends: today it has among the lowest CO2 emissions per capita and lowest electricity prices.

AREVA has signed preliminary agreements to supply four EPR™ reactors in the United Kingdom, and the reactor is under going design certification with the U.K. authorities.



This weekend, Watch List on PBS television in New York aired a segment that looked at the situation for nuclear waste in the United States. With over 100 reactors, the United States has accumulated over 60,000 tons of used fuel that is safely stored at reactor sites. However, the documentary points out that this is only a temporary solution, and that it is not a viable long term option for the United States.

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

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This article originally appear in North American Clean Energy magazine.

The potential for the concentrated solar power (CSP) industry to generate electricity has been discussed for years, but the ability to deliver on that potential has never been as good as it is today. The International Energy Agency reported in May 2010 that CSP could provide 11.3% of global electricity by 2050. Meanwhile, the market for CSP plants is expected to grow by 20% annually over the next decade, reaching an estimated installed capacity of more than 20 gigawatts by 2020. States like California and nations like Australia, India, and South Africa are establishing bold renewable energy goals that can only be met with significant input from CSP technologies. Clearly, there is a vast global market for CSP.
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Yesterday in Washington, Marvin Fertel, President of the Nuclear Energy Institute testified during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the federal loan guarantee program.

From the NEI press release Fertel was quoted as saying:

“The scale of the energy and environmental challenges facing our nation—large-scale development of clean energy technologies, modernizing the U.S. electric power supply and delivery system, and reducing carbon emissions—requires a broader financing platform…these projects, and many more like them, are essential if our nation is to meet our goals for clean energy and job creation.”

Read Fertel’s testimony here.

 

By Katherine Berezowskyj

Industry experts discussed the importance of the nuclear fuel life cycle today in the latest session of the ongoing series, The American Nuclear Energy Revival, hosted by the U.S. Energy Association, The Sept. 23 briefing examined the steps of nuclear fuel cycle from mining to uranium enrichment to used fuel recycling.

Discussing uranium mining, Grant Isaac of Cameco, explained the operations involved to obtain the natural resource – exploration, mining, milling, and conversion – and emphasized the important of sustainability and life cycle environmental impact. Isaac pointed out a common misconception regarding the scale that mining’s impact on the environment. Compared to other energy sources, uranium is quite small. Specifically, he pointed out that uranium mine covering one square mile, such as one Cameco operates in Canada, yields the same amount of energy as produced by 71 billion barrels of oil or 17 billion tons of coal.

From UX Consulting Company, Ruthanne Neely discussed the global enrichment market. While current capacity does not meet U.S. demand, Neely explained that AREVA and Urenco have two centrifuge enrichment facilities under various stages of development that will add domestic capacity to the U.S. market. She noted that this growth will be rivaled by the Russians and the Chinese as they expand their enrichment resources and build more nuclear reactors.

On the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle, AREVA’s Dr. Alan Hanson discussed that with Yucca Mountain off of the table, and with the growing nuclear revival, he recommended that the United States make a more sustainable decision for managing its used fuel. While dry-cask storage is a safe approach for the interim, he noted that recycling as part of integrated fuel management presents a solid option.

Hanson explained that the countries with large nuclear generation that have chosen to recycle used fuel have done so, because it enhances the security of supply. In effect, recycled nuclear fuel offers a domestic source of material for nations that are reliant on imports. The other benefits he listed include making final waste management easier, conserving natural resources, and supporting non-proliferation objectives.

More importantly, Hanson pointed out that finding a solution is a social responsibility, and these materials should not be left for the next generation. Americans recycle soda cans and newspapers even though it is not necessarily less expensive and no shortage of these resources exists.

Check out more information on these aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle and AREVA’s operations in each: mining, enrichment, and recycling.

By Jarret Adams

It is not common for a group of industry executives to agree on a single point. But, it is interesting that nearly every industry leader to appear before the Blue Ribbon Commission has concurred that management of America’s used nuclear fuel should be controlled by a federal corporation, or “Fed Corp,” in the mold of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future was formed “to conduct a comprehensive review of policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and to provide recommendations for developing a safe, long-term solution to managing the Nation’s used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste.” The panel’s latest public meetings were held Sept. 21-22.

Throughout the meetings, a range of industry executives have supported the idea that used fuel management should be moved from under the control of the Department of Energy to a “quasi-government waste management entity.”

“America’s used nuclear fuel program should be transferred to an entity with a management and financing structure that is able to function in the presence of the inevitable political and policy changes that will occur over the coming decades,” Marvin Fertel, president and CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute, told the panel in May.

Today Henry “Brew” Barron, president and CEO of Constellation Nuclear Energy Group, echoed the sentiments of Mr. Fertel in support of creating a quasi-government entity or Fed Corp to manage used fuel.

Barron expressed support for legislation offered by Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) that would create the U.S. Nuclear Fuel Management Corporation, a concept that mirrors this approach. AREVA also strongly supports this bill.

Other industry leaders such as Jack Fuller, chairman of GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy; Kate Jackson, senior v.p. of Westinghouse; Alan Dobson, senior v.p. of EnergySolutions; and our own Alan Hanson, executive v.p. of AREVA, all voiced their support for the Fed Corp concept at an Aug. 30 meeting of a commission subcommittee.

During these meetings, the panel members posed a number of questions to the executives on how best to establish and structure such a Fed Corp.

At the August meeting, Dr. Hanson also laid out some of AREVA’s perspectives on used fuel management and the potential for recycling. Click here for a virtual tour of AREVA’s La Hague recycling facility in Normandy.

We love the very strong statement in Politico today from Senator George Voinovich, who is the ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee:

Senator George Voinovich

I am now calling for an end to energy complacency. Energy freedom and a diverse energy portfolio are the keys to strengthening both our national security and our economic security.

We have a clean, secure source of energy at our fingertips that is underused: nuclear energy. Nuclear is important not just for our energy needs but also to cultivate and increase needed domestic jobs. Moreover, this technology can be exported around the globe to nations that still look to the United States for expertise in nuclear energy — one of many technologies the U.S. pioneered…

Nuclear is a threefer: It provides the reliable, baseload electricity our country demands, it can help us reduce carbon emissions, and it can strengthen our manufacturing base and create good-paying jobs… Today, the U.S. already has 104 operating nuclear plants. They supply not only 20 percent of our electricity but also 70 percent of our carbon-free emissions.These plants’ success and the current debate on climate change only make the case for nuclear power stronger and more bipartisan.

And we at AREVA strongly support his new bill, and his proposed summit:

I recently introduced the Enabling the Nuclear Renaissance Act, a bill that outlines what needs to be done to continue the revival of U.S. nuclear power. It would provide strong financial incentives to build the first few plants, as well as tax incentives and grants for the manufacturing, construction and production of nuclear facilities.

We can’t let other countries take over the world market; we need to seize the day.

That is why Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and I are co-hosting a summit in December in Washington. We plan to provide a forum for industry, Congress, the White House, government agencies, national labs and the financial sector to revitalize the nuclear power industry….

As I’ve always said, together we can do it.

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