Is Nuclear Energy Cost Effective?
Nuclear energy provides 78 percent of France's energy needs, but only 20 percent of the United States' power supply. China is expanding its nuclear program, but Germany is planning on dismantling plants. No alternative to fossil fuels has caused more debate than nuclear energy. As carbon-based fuels become scarcer and more costly, countries are again looking at nuclear power as a cost-effective alternative.
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History
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In 1951, the first nuclear reactor designed to generate electricity became operational in Arco, Idaho. The next year, a panel delivered a report to president Truman, suggesting that solar power was a better bet than nuclear power. By 1955, the United States was committed to building nuclear power plants in the "Atoms for Peace" program. The British opened the first commercial generating station the same year, and in 1957, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was formed. Plant construction peaked in the 1970s and 1980s, slowing after the 1979 Three Mile Island incident near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and ground to a slow halt after the 1986 meltdown-induced steam explosion that destroyed the plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine.
Features
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Nuclear plants are clean--they emit no air pollutants or greenhouse gases. They are more expensive to build, but less expensive to operate than other forms of power generation. The average expense per kilowatt (kW) hour for nuclear-generated energy (about $.08 per kW hour) compares favorably to that for oil ($0.09 to $0.12) and gas ($0.07 to $0.10). Clean coal-generated electricity is more expensive, and all coal pollutes; in 1 hour of operation, a coal-fired plant that generated the same amount of electricity as the remaining reactor at Three Mile Island, would release 271 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
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Function
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Fuel rods made of enriched uranium are submerged in water and the energy in their nuclei is released through collision in a process called fission. The explosion of energy heats water, which drives turbines to generate electricity for the power grid. Most commercial reactions use fission although some newer plants use fusion (the forced joining of atoms). Water is recycled within the system in a cooling tower until it cools so that the uranium fuel doesn't overheat. If this happens, the containment vessel that holds it can release radioactivity or a huge, explosive steam bubble--this is referred to as a "meltdown."
Considerations
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Although safety is always a concern with nuclear energy, France and several other countries consider its economy worth the extra safeguards that have to be built into the system. When operating at or near capacity, no other alternative fuel, including wind, is as economical to build and operate. Although nuclear power's start-up cost is greater than that of fossil fuel-driven plants, it is less than half that of wind. The only expensive caveat with nuclear power is the cost of removal and burial of used nuclear fuel. Special handling and disposal are extra costs that no other type of alternative fuel must include. As disposal options continue to dwindle, the cost undoubtedly will rise.
Potential
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Today's nuclear industry is safer and more closely regulated than earlier plants. Nuclear power becomes more economical as the costs of fossil fuels and the pollution they cause increase. If the disposal problems can be solved by developing new fuels or disposal options, nuclear power can be a cost-effective alternative to fossil fuels as they become more expensive and scarce.
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Resources
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