Speaker urges Utahns to rethink nuclear power

Salt Lake Tribune
Programs director tells U. audience it would not be a viable solution to climate change

Chris Paine doesn't see the nuclear renaissance panning out.
As director of nuclear programs for the Natural Resources Defense Council, he sees too many obstacles for nuclear power before it could become the meaningful solution to climate change that nuclear boosters suggest.
Nuclear reactors are too expensive, he told an audience at the University of Utah Wednesday. They can't be built fast enough in enough places to truly offset the gasses blamed for global warming. And expanding nuclear technology to new countries spreads the risks of accidents and proliferation, he said.
"Think again," Paine urged Utahns pushing for the state's first commercial reactor.
His visit to Salt Lake City comes a few weeks after the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission was put on notice about plans to build two nuclear reactor units that would generate up to 1,500 megawatts each. Aaron Tilton, the chief executive officer of Transition Power Development and a Republican state legislator representing Springville, said he's not too far from announcing a location for the project in eastern Utah.
Tilton had nothing to say about Paine's views on the potential for proliferation of nuclear weapons.
"I don't think that has anything to do with our project," he said.
But Tilton resisted the notion that nuclear is and will be too expensive.
"It's pure speculation on anybody's part, as to the costs," he said.
Paine pointed out in his University of Utah presentation that nuclear-power generation has been flat for about two decades. In order to maintain current levels of nuclear generation, enough new plants would need to be constructed to generate about 3.8 gigawatts a year.
By 2038, about 15 additional gigawatts will be necessary to maintain current nuclear generation levels, said Paine. And, while Canada and France are the only nuclear-power nations that have already announced plans to replace outdated reactors, it would take enough plants to generate an additional 90 gigawatts to ramp up nuclear power's role in cutting the greenhouse gasses that contribute to climate change, he noted.
The costs of nuclear power include tax credits worth $6 billion, insurance benefits of about $1.75 billion and $8.5 billion in loan guarantees.
Meanwhile, expanding nuclear energy to other nations would mean sharing technology that might not be handled and used safely, he said. Nations such as Libya, Egypt, Turkey, Albania and Syria would have access to enrichment technology and centrifuges that would essentially give them access to bomb-making material, Paine added.