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Photo Courtesy of Duke Energy / Energy suppliers are continuing to explore nuclear power as an attractive option because of its low levels of greenhouse gas emissions.
By Melinda Copp
Population booms and increasing signs of global warming have brought nuclear power to the forefront as an alternative to fossil fuel energy, especially in South Carolina.
Currently, more than 50% of the state’s electricity is supplied by nuclear reactors. With the Southeast attracting growing numbers of new residents and businesses, energy companies recognize the need for more power. And the low levels of greenhouse emissions make nuclear power an attractive option.
“We’re facing more and more environmental issues with fossil fuels,” said Mitch Singer, spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington, D.C. “Because of the growth, demand from the population and public support, you have good reason to look at nuclear power.”
“To the experts, nuclear power is safe, with little to no environmental consequences,” said Kenneth D. Lewis, dean of the College of Science, Mathematics and Engineering Technology at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg. “Since the time of the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, the industry has become more regulated, creating a multitude of redundant safeguards.”
The largest nuclear engineering program in the country, according to Lewis, is at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and there are also programs at the University of Illinois-Urbana, the University of Michigan, Idaho State University, the University of Missouri and the University of Tennessee.
One of the oldest programs in the country is at North Carolina State University, while two of the newest are at the University of South Carolina and South Carolina State University.
“We are the only program at a historically black college,” Lewis said, noting that the first two graduates of the program received their degrees in December. Those two graduate engineers, Aundrie Blanchard and Patricia Glenn, are already working, one at the Savannah River Site and the other at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
“When I arrived two years ago, (SCSU) had 10 students in the nuclear program,” Lewis said. “As a result of our recruiting program, we brought in an additional 11, and we may pick up another 10 in the fall of 2007. Of those 11 freshmen, only two are from out of state; the rest are from South Carolina. We have to start home-growing these folks. We have seven operating plants in state and another one on the drawing board.”
The outstanding question involves the problem of nuclear waste, Lewis said.
“The mass of that waste is small in relation to the amount of energy created, but the isotopes left over are long-lived. A study group has been formed to look at the feasibility of building a reactor to burn the wastes and is looking at possible locations in Idaho, Oakridge, Tenn., and the Savannah River Site.
“The good news for today’s students,” Lewis said, “is that there is an increasing need for nuclear engineers at defense facilities and with the Department of Energy. Nearly 50 percent of the present engineering force will become eligible for retirement in the next few years.”
Adding to the economic viability of nuclear fuel as an energy source is the prospect of a carbon-emission tax, which would make burning fossil fuels more expensive.
“Nuclear power is currently slightly less economical than coal,” said Jim Finucane, a nuclear and uranium data specialist with the Energy Information Administration. “With an emission tax, that may diminish.”
The U.S. nuclear power industry has been at a virtual standstill for decades. No new reactors have been built in 30 years and the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island, near Harrisburg, Pa., remains fresh in the minds of many Americans. But with the downside of coal and other fossil fuels becoming more evident, nuclear power has become a big part of the nation’s energy conversation.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 gave the industry tax credits worth $3.1 billion, liability protection and compensation for legislative delays. That same year, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the design of the new Westinghouse AP 1000 reactor. For the nuclear power industry, this support is opening up opportunities for growth.
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