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.

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.
read more…

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.

“Virginia voters approve 71 – 20 percent of using nuclear power to produce electricity and support 60 – 32 percent the construction of new nuclear plants in the commonwealth.”

From Quinnipac University polling of Virginia voters, October 12th, 2011

Brian Wang highlights on his blog a petition supporting nuclear power that is being submitted through the White House’s “We the People” program. This government initiative provides U.S. citizens a means to petition the government.

The pro-nuclear petition needs 5,000 signatures by 10/23 to be accepted by the Obama Administration for consideration.

The petition states,

We petition the Obama Administration to:

Educate the Public Regarding Nuclear Power.

This petition is a response to the “End taxpayer subsidies for new nuclear reactors” petition.

Due to the manufactured controversy that is the nuclear reactor meltdown in Fukushima, Japan, perpetuated by a scientifically illiterate news media, the public is unnecessarily hostile to nuclear power as an energy source.

To date nobody has died from the accident and Fukushima, and nuclear power has the lowest per Terra-watt hour death toll of any energy source known to man:

http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/03/deaths-per-twh-by-energy-source.html

The Obama administration should take better strides to educate the public regarding this important energy source.

Go to the “We the People” website and take action.

Being defined by one’s actions instead of just words can be a daunting reality, but modern nuclear reactor facilities and designs unabashedly confirm the U.S. nuclear industry’s commitment and culture focused on safety.

This commitment created an astounding statistic: From the day President Eisenhower commissioned the first reactor to the present day, the ongoing commercial operations of U.S. nuclear reactors have caused zero (0) deaths in the workforce and general public. And modern reactors are designed to maintain that safety commitment with advanced technology and techniques.

For example, AREVA’s 1,600+ megawatt U.S. EPR™ reactor design completing review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) represents additional advancements in secure, robust construction and multi-layer preventive and reactive safety systems. Here are the details divided out by the numbers …
read more…

As the Obama Administration looks to help jumpstart job creation across the United States, it should look no farther than the nuclear energy sector. Nuclear energy already plays an important role in the U.S. economy, producing 20 percent of the nation’s electricity and employing some 120,000 hardworking Americans. Yet investment in new nuclear facilities will create many additional jobs during both the construction and operation phases.
read more…

The independent U.S. nuclear regulator has issued its quarterly report on its inspection of construction activities at the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) report of inspections that took place from the beginning of April through the end of June concluded that no violations or deviations were identified as a result of these inspections.

The scope of these inspections included ongoing construction activities, engineering processes and oversight of subcontractor activities.

“We are committed to constructing the MOX facility safely and in accordance with regulations of the NRC,” said Kelly Trice, president and chief operating officer of Shaw AREVA MOX Services, LLC, “and the NRC’s report underscores this commitment.”

This dedication to safety and excellence is a key component of the work being done at the MOX Project. Another important accomplishment in safety took place in June when the MOX project surpassed 4 million consecutive work hours without a lost-time accident.

The MOX facility is currently under construction at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C. More than 1,800 people are engaged in the design, construction and administration of the MOX project, which is being constructed for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and is scheduled to begin operation in 2016.

The MOX facility will convert surplus weapons-grade plutonium into reactor fuel for use in commercial nuclear power plants, supporting the Department’s non-proliferation program to eliminate surplus weapons-grade plutonium in the U.S.

Shaw AREVA MOX Services, LLC, comprised of Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure Group and AREVA, works for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration to design, build and operate a facility. For more information, visit www.moxproject.com.

And in case you are curious, the NRC inspection report can be found at: under the document number ML112082293.

With digital technology at the helm of many industries such as aviation, automotive and navy nuclear, the U.S. commercial nuclear fleet is embracing digital technology to improve safety, reliability and plant availability. With significant installations in Europe and Asia, AREVA is bringing this digital technology to the United States.

The most recent example of these advancements is the first-ever installation in a U.S. nuclear plant of AREVA’s comprehensive Digital Instrumentation & Control (I&C) Reactor Protection System this June.

In a nutshell, replacing the existing analog control system with a modern digital platform enhances the facility’s capabilities to ensure safe and reliable nuclear plant operations. And in the same way that advanced Generation III+ nuclear reactor designs emphasize redundant physical safety features, the digital I&C system ensures continuous integrity with its own inherent system redundancies.

This globally proven technology is already in operation or being installed at 69 units on 40 separate sites in 14 countries, and in reactors by 10 different suppliers. Last year, AREVA became the first and only supplier in the U.S. to receive NRC approval for full plant specific application of a safety-related digital I&C system.

By first evaluating and implementing regular, intentional safety upgrades and improvements like digital I&C, the U.S. nuclear industry continues progressively operating as a safe, secure clean energy source reliably generating 20% of American households’ electricity.