Center for Reactor Information

The World Relies on Nuclear Power
and Must Sharply Expand the Future Nuclear Role

James Dutton, Retired
Argonne National Laboratory
Prepared August 1997

From the following table, we see the nations of the world acting in their interest by adopting nuclear power. They know they must have a supply of energy for economic growth and freedom from great hunger, disease, pollution, and strife.

Basic facts about people and energy:

• About 6-billion people live on planet Earth now.
• Almost 2-billion of them, 1/3 of the world's people, have no access to electricity.
• About 1-billion of them have no access to commercial energy in any form--not even gasoline or diesel fuel; they rely entirely on wood and other biomass for fuel.
• In about 50 years, earth will be home to 10-billion people, and the world energy supply must double or maybe triple over that time.
• In their struggle to advance themselves, underdeveloped and industrializing nations will increase their use of energy far more rapidly than industrialized economies will. ²

Coal use is rising:

• China is already burning more than 1-billion tons of coal a year--1/3 more than it did just a decade ago.
• India's coal use rose by 2/3 in the 1980s.
• South Korea's use of coal has more than doubled in the 1980s.

Fossil fuels impact the global environment.

The complex impacts of boundary-less air pollution problems on political, economic, social, and standard-of-living issues were illustrated in a meeting in Chicago, Illinois of scientists and policymakers from 37 states trying to figure out what to do about air-pollution problems--coal-burning power plants in three states send so much pollution to the Chicago metropolitan area that cleanup to meet government standards is practically impossible. ³

Emissions from burning fossil fuels are air pollutants and may contribute to global warming. Emissions do not recognize national boundaries. People of all nations share the adverse impacts of fossil fuel use.

Obviously, energy policies should be orchestrated to recognize the diverse energy needs of the people who share this planet, and to sustain their aspirations and health.

In this light, nuclear energy is seen as a certain imperative--the only practical, economical, large-scale source of electricity that does not pollute the air or produce greenhouse gases.²

The U.S. role: either beneficial participation or leadership forfeited.

The U.S., with 5% of the world's population, consumes 23% of the world's primary energy supply. So the U.S. has a special interest and responsibility in seeing that world energy growth proceeds beneficially, safely.

But the U.S. has vast reserves of coal, abundant natural gas, huge supplies of capital, and we can produce, mine, build, or buy nearly anything we need. So it is possible for the U.S. to have a national energy policy that presumes we have abundant resources and can afford the luxury of:

• Abstract policy debates about whether and when we should build more nuclear power plants,
• Overly legalistic procedures that stifle building plants or improving technology,
• Deciding how to allocate the costs of demand-side management programs,
• Debating how to price electricity transmission, and
• Waffling on whether or not the federal government should meet its commitment to build storage and disposal facilities for used nuclear fuel.²

Such a narrow focus policy is unrealistic.

Summary

Other nations of the world continue using nuclear power in their own interest, and expanding that use.

If the U.S. wishes to influence the safety standards and proliferation resistance of the world's nuclear power plants and fuel cycles, it is imperative that the country renew its role in developing and using nuclear energy. U.S. disinterest would void our influence on how world energy needs are met.

References

1. International Datafile, International Atomic Energy Agency Bulletin, p. 44, Vol 39, No. 1, 3/97.
2. P. Bayne (President, Nuclear Energy Institute), Remarks to American Nuclear Society Winter Conference, Washington DC, 11/14/94.
3. P. Kendall, "Clean Air and Ozone Obey No Manmade Boundaries," Chicago Tribune, 5/12/97.

For additional information, please contact CFRI, an independent organization of retirees with extensive nuclear experience.