Guest post by James Yu, Director of International and Federal Affairs, AREVA Inc.

Last week, Kelly Trice, President and Chief Operating Officer of Shaw AREVA MOX Services, presented the following video during the Annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit in Arlington, VA.

The conversation underscored the importance of the national nuclear security mission of the MOX Project, through which the United States will fulfill its international commitment to dispose of at least 34 metric tons of nuclear weapons material initiated under the U.S.-Russia Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement of 2000. In turn, Russia is obligated to permanently dispose of at least 34 metric tons of its weapons plutonium.
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This political season provides a rare opportunity to engage our elected representatives in an energy discussion on the national stage.

To spark this conversation, AREVA hosted media events at both conventions, first with House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, and then today with Minority House Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Both representatives referenced their parties’ support for clean energy—nuclear energy is in both the Republican and Democrat platforms—and the need for cooperative efforts to achieve it.  

Both parties are discussing “all of the above” national energy strategies to achieve an agenda of economic and environmental goals, though they have varying priorities. As Minority Leader Pelosi said this morning,

“If you don’t have an agenda, if your agenda is “Do nothing,” there’s nothing to negotiate. Better that you have an opponent with a full agenda.”

As both party platforms indicate, their energy agendas include a solid national foundation of low carbon nuclear energy. With that foundation, America can make the best use of our regional renewable energies.

We have long held the position that nuclear isn’t the only solution, but it must be part of the solution to provide everyone access to safe, clean and affordable electricity.

Minority Leader Pelosi also emphasized the cooperative value of a long-term energy vision, noting how her party negotiated an energy agreement with its own members, and then with President Bush to pass the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The same legislation was recently used by President Obama to advance automotive fuel efficiency standards for the first time in 32 years.

We applaud these efforts to develop long-term energy strategies. As we stated in our earlier post with Speaker Boehner, “Such a visionary plan achieves our [national] environmental and energy goals while spurring U.S. jobs and economic growth, and regaining global technology leadership.”

These goals are goals we all want, and as Minority Leader Pelosi concluded,

“And so, if they had something they want, then you can make some kind of an agreement. Nobody was elected monarch. We all have to compromise on these things. Not our principles, but some of our timing of our goals.”

Sounds like the start of productive energy negotiations.

On Monday, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner echoed a statement that we at AREVA have been saying for several years now. A successful energy policy is an “all-of-the-above” national energy plan.

Speaker Boehner’s comments came during Monday’s AREVA-sponsored Monitor Lunch, one of the activities at the Republican National Convention. In a conversation with journalist Elena Shore, Boehner stated that his colleagues in the Republican Party are for an all-of-the-above national energy plan.

We agree with Speaker Boehner and believe the best national energy plan must make the best use of all forms of energy today, and cast the vision for transitioning to a clean energy economy using non-carbon-emitting sources in the future.

This is a future based on “all of the above” clean energy sources—like powerful, steady, nationwide nuclear energy combined with a broad portfolio of regional renewable energies. We have long held the position that nuclear isn’t the only solution, but it must be part of the solution to provide everyone access to safe, clean and affordable electricity.

Such a visionary plan achieves our environmental and energy goals while spurring U.S. jobs and economic growth, and regaining global technology leadership.

This is a vision that also requires political leadership, and we thank you, Mr. Speaker, for joining us at the Monitor event and discussing the important topic of our nation’s energy future.

To read more about Monday’s event, check out the event videos and commentary.

The Washington Post Editorial Board asks a great question today:

CAN THE WORLD fight global warming without nuclear power?

The article then notes that, “One major industrialized country — Germany — is determined to find out, and another — Japan — is debating whether to try. Both illustrate how hard it would be.”  And the majority of the article is about the facts of this choice.

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The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report last week detailing used fuel options for the United States as reviewed by the Department of Energy (DOE) titled, “NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE OPTIONS: DOE Needs to Enhance Planning for Technology Assessment and Collaboration with Industry and Other Countries.”

Beginning on page 46 is a 12-page analysis and commentary of AREVA’s used nuclear fuel recycling process in France, including a graphic (pg. 52) summarizing the process fuel output and waste generated. This section highlights the fact that about 96% of the energy in used nuclear fuel can be recycled, and this recycling reduces by around 75% the physical amount of leftover fuel needing long-term storage. In France, both recycled uranium and plutonium are used as fuel in reactors and reliably provide the French with the lowest cost electricity in Europe without carbon emissions.

With the ongoing U.S. used nuclear fuel debate in mind, we encourage you to review the report [PDF link] and learn more about the benefits gained by implementing the complete nuclear fuel process here in the United States.

Yesterday we saw another very solid well reasoned and powerful op-ed from former administrator of the EPA, Christine Todd Whitman.

And we applaud the argument that it isn’t “nuclear vs. renewables” but that nuclear energy provides a crucial compliment to renewable energy sources as an always on backstop or “baseload” source of energy. As she put it well:

Renewable power suffers from problems of intermittency; it is very difficult to predict how much the wind will blow or how strong the sun will shine. The American electricity grid — built to connect massive, centralized, “always on” power plants to consumers — is unable to handle the unpredictability that a substantial increase in renewable power would bring. Natural gas, too, faces economic hurdles — it has a history of rapid and extreme price fluctuations that have made utilities reluctant to rely on it.

Until these problems are solved, our electricity system requires a stable, cheap source of energy to provide “always on” baseload power. The only candidates for such power in today’s energy mix are nuclear or coal power plants. We are learning that mining and burning coal provides too much danger to human health to base our electricity system on it: a new study in the American Economic Review has found that the air pollution emitted by coal-fired electricity generation is greater than the value it adds to economy. Nuclear power, on the other hand, can provide emissions-free baseload power at a low cost.

Today, a total of 104 nuclear reactors are operational around the country. They provide about 20 percent of the country’s total electricity. No other electricity source can combine the benefits of knowing that it will always be on with its affordability and its lack of emissions….This cheap, always available, zero-carbon power is an important backstop to the growth of new technologies. It can help smooth the price fluctuations that natural gas is vulnerable to and it provides the “always on” capacity that renewable power cannot.

Read the whole article here.

During the World Energy Council, Jacques Besnainou, CEO of AREVA North America, spoke with Llewellyn King about Safety Lessons from Fukushima, Used Fuel Recycling in the U.S., AREVA’s activities in North America, and the Energy Future. His comments are posted to “The White House Chronicle” blog, along with Barry Worthington of the United States Energy Association, Karl Rose of the World Energy Council, and Joan Macnaughton from Alstom.

The full video is below; Mr. Besnainou’s comments run from 18:59 – 26:32.

The world hit a milestone as expected this week, with global celebrations highlighting the birth of the symbolic 7 Billionth baby born….

Countries around the world marked the world’s population reaching 7 billion Monday with lavish ceremonies for newborn infants symbolizing the milestone and warnings that there may be too many humans for the planet’s resources….While demographers are unsure exactly when the world’s population will reach the 7 billion mark, the U.N. is using Monday to symbolically mark the day. A string of festivities are being held worldwide, with a series of symbolic 7-billionth babies being born.

Dr. Eric Tayag of the Philippines’ Department of Health said later that the birth came with a warning. “Seven billion is a number we should think about deeply,” he said.

We agree. Seven billion people — not to mention the projected growth rates from here — is a sobering statistic. As many commentators are pointing out, this accelerating population brings up important and pressing global health, housing, education, food and environmental questions.

But we also know undergirding and influencing all of these issues are the immediate questions of energy and sustainability.

Our global future requires a considered and balanced approach combining expanded renewable and nuclear energy solutions to provide and maintain steady, reliable, low-carbon power. This need is clear. How we accomplish it requires creative cooperation still hobbled by polarizing activism.

We must focus on these larger and harder questions together. We now have seven billion reasons to do so, and counting.

The Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) on America’s Nuclear Future held its latest public meeting in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 20 to solicit comments on its draft recommendations for managing the nation’s nuclear waste. Over the past month, the BRC has held meetings at locations around the country to receive feedback on its draft report that it will give to the administration next year.

In a panel focused on advanced technology, the discussion focused on whether recycling nuclear fuel could provide a feasible option for the United States. David Jones, Senior V.P. at AREVA Inc. and Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Infrastructure Council, pointed out that recycling nuclear fuel is a proven, economical and safe option for the United States to consider as a possibility for managing some of the nation’s used fuel.
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We’re watching the good discussions from political and business leaders coming from the “Governor’s Conference on Energy” in Virginia… good to see former EPA head Christine Todd Whitman’s voice on how nuclear is “extremely safe” and the “most important” form of clean energy. And good to see other voices highlighting the serious energy needs and challenges we face as a country.

If you are there and have any of your own impressions of things, do add comments here or you can also send us those via Twitter or on Facebook.