Senator Pete V. Domenici
"The World Will Be a Better Place in the 21st Century Because of Nuclear Power"
December 2004 / January 2005
Volume 2 Number 6
More than 50 years ago, on December 8, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower offered a prophetic vision to the United Nations that nuclear power could contribute to the betterment of mankind through its peaceful application. At that time there were no commercial nuclear power plants, only prototypes of a submarine thermal reactor and nuclear weapons. The president was proposing ideas on how to "strip its military casing and adapt it to the arts of peace" in order for nuclear technology to provide "abundant electrical energy." In his speech, dubbed "Atoms For Peace," President Eisenhower said:
"The United States knows that if the fearful trend of atomic military build-up can be reversed, this greatest of destructive forces can be developed into a great boon, for the benefit of all mankind. The United States knows that peaceful power from atomic energy is not a dream of the future. The capability, already proved, is here today. Who can doubt that, if the entire body of the world's scientists and engineers had adequate amounts of fissionable material with which to test and develop their ideas, this capability would rapidly be transformed into universal, efficient and economic usage. The more important responsibility of this atomic energy agency would be to devise methods whereby this fissionable material would be allocated to serve the peaceful pursuits of mankind. Experts would be mobilized to apply atomic energy to the needs of agriculture, medicine and other peaceful activities. A special purpose would be to provide abundant electrical energy in the power-starved areas of the world."
We also recognize a second 50th anniversary, that of the initial criticality of the first prototype submarine thermal reactor, Mark 1, in Idaho, for a submarine nuclear propulsion plant. Captain Hyman Rickover, who was within seven years of hanging his hat at Oak Ridge in 1948, obtained congressional approval to build the naval reactor program and took a nuclear-powered submarine to sea.
Recognizing the potential application of the technology developed for the naval program, Eisenhower directed Rickover to build and oversee the operation of the first U.S. commercial power plant, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station, near Pittsburgh. Having chosen the pressurized water reactor (PWR) as the best technology suited for submarine operations, Rickover proceeded to use it as the basis for the first commercial nuclear power plant. Shippingport's PWR design and original cores became prototypes for the majority of commercial power stations built thereafter. This is the perfect example of the positive synergy between the commercial and military nuclear programs.
For many years now, a book such as the one I've written would have been laughed off the public policy stage. Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, uninformed hysteria about nuclear power's true risks, and irresponsible decisions by policymakers have made nuclear energy into a pariah in some minds. Pseudoscience has been pumped into our culture like bilge water, flushing out the good science. Thus it has been for three decades in the United States.
As we have deliberately limited our potential energy resources by not openly embracing the nuclear option, we now face a future in which global oil production may well peak within 20 to 30 years, the price of natural gas will soar, and the promise of options such as solar and geothermal energy remain economically unfeasible in any reasonable timeframe.
In the 21st century, nuclear power will be a major contributor to global peace and a better quality of life for both the developed and developing world. My ultimate goal is that in the year 2045, 100 years after the detonation of the first atomic bomb and the birth of the nuclear age, the world will evaluate the role played by nuclear technologies and conclude that their overall impact was strongly positive.
The world will be a better place in 21st century because of nuclear power. We are already realizing some of the benefits of nuclear technologies today. Nuclear weapons, for all their horror, brought to an end 50 years of worldwide wars in which 60 million people died. On the one hand, nuclear power is providing about 20 percent of the electricity needs of the United States, and on the other hand, many of our citizens enjoy healthier, longer lives through improved medical procedures that depend on nuclear technologies. The standard of living we enjoy today would be lost without reliable, clean, cost-effective electricity. It enables countless technologies—€”from the computers we use today, to the washing machines that have replaced our old hand-cranked units—€”making our lives better each day. There are many contributions nuclear technologies could or do offer our society:
—€ Emissions-free electricity generation
—€ Tracing potential cures for major diseases and diagnosing injuries and health concerns
—€ Destruction of cancer cells through radiation
—€ Nondestructive testing of the strength of products and components for the manufacturing, construction, and aircraft industries
—€ Seawater desalination
—€ Hydrogen production
—€ Propulsion of submarines, aircraft carriers, icebreakers, and other ships
—€ Heating to release oil from tar sands and oil shales
—€ Conversion of nuclear weapons materials to commercial nuclear fuel
—€ Irradiation of life-threatening bacteria in food
—€ Spacecraft propulsion by radioisotope thermoelectrical generators and space-based reactors
—€ Powering nanotechnology's microscopic batteries
—€ Sterilization of products from bandages to contact lens solution
—€ Destruction of dangerous radioactive materials in spent nuclear fuel
Nuclear power is safe and sure. Every week, one or two nuclear power plants dock at a major port in America or somewhere else in the world. And these power plants have been doing so for a half-century now. These nuclear power plants are on board American submarines. No port (except one in New Zealand) objects to these dockings, no outcries from the citizens occur. Nuclear-powered sub dockings have become completely routine events, and in fact are safer and less stressful for dockworkers than the arrival of ships with cargoes of liquefied natural gas, or ammonium nitrate, or dozens of other much more dangerous substances. No accidents of any kind have ever marred these dockings; no leaks have cleared blocks of cities; no emergencies have been declared. This half-century of safety, evidenced by the U.S. nuclear submarine fleet, shows more dramatically than almost any other indicator the safety that can be achieved by nuclear power plants. It is upon the assurance I take from this safety record that I make many of the suggestions for the future of nuclear power in our world and at home in America.
Two words must be part of every discussion on energy alternatives: risks and benefits. No energy source is free of both. Antinuclear groups have focused only on the risks involved with nuclear power. They don't acknowledge its benefits or discuss the solid technical solutions obtained. Unfortunately, their actions do not present a balanced understanding of this complex issue. Energy production, by any technology, represents a trade-off between risks and benefits. The public must have the information to fairly judge both sides of this equation for each type of energy source. With that kind of comparison, nuclear energy fares very well. As the public comes to understand the true risks and benefits of nuclear technology, I believe it will play an increasing role in future domestic and global electrical supplies.
I think there's a good consensus today that our nation and the world are facing immense shortfalls in energy, both in the short term and even more so in the long term. I support the renewable options but, good though they may be eventually, none of them will replace the baseload power that nuclear energy does and will supply in this century. Today there's real enthusiasm for expanded use of nuclear energy
My vision for a major future role for nuclear energy involves the increasing globalization of the world's economies. I do not believe that the world can move toward peace and harmony unless the large differences between the "have" and "have-not" nations are addressed.
The standard of living for billions of people in the underdeveloped world lags that of the developed world by extremely large factors. Reliable sources of electricity underpin the economies of the developed world. Reliable energy sources are key factors determining each nation's standard of living and are certainly one of the prerequisites for modernization in all developing nations. There is a vast gulf in energy usage per capita between Western nations, especially the United States, and those in the developing world.
Historically, the road to development starts from an almost complete reliance on traditional biomass but leads to the gradual access to electricity and other modern fuels. Electricity will contribute to improving the lives of the world's poor, especially those in the developing countries, in countless ways. The International Energy Agency's study on world poverty connected the link between energy use and poverty. It said:
"Electric light extends the day, providing extra hours for reading and work. Modern cook stoves save women and children from daily exposure to noxious cooking fumes. Refrigeration allows local clinics to keep needed medicines on hand. And modern energy can directly reduce poverty by raising a poor country's productivity and extending the quality and range of its productsthereby putting more wages into the pockets of the deprived."
Global development offers immense benefits to the American people as well. We benefit from a network of global trading partners. These partners help create markets for our high-technology products. But this will happen only if the rest of the world increases its standards of living to levels that closely match our own. And that won't happen unless they have access to clean, reliable, low-cost sources of energy and electrical power. If the United States does not foster global economic development, there will continue to be widespread suffering from poverty, disease, and premature deaths, and an expanding gulf in living standards between developed and developing nations—€”conditions that will create instability and a potential for regional and global conflicts.
I strongly believe that nuclear energy, appropriately designed to avoid proliferation concerns and to operate in absolute safety, can play a major role in energizing the rest of the world. We can take action now to help shape a world with minimal or, better yet, no nuclear weapons, wherein its citizens enjoy improved standards of living and clean air. At a minimum, nuclear stockpiles can be dramatically reduced. Nuclear materials and weapons expertise can be appropriately protected so that rogue nations will be unable to acquire them. In my view, nuclear power could eventually provide much more than its current 20 percent of our electrical power, as well as clean power for many underdeveloped countries trying to bring more prosperity to their people.
By helping other nations develop nuclear power now, the developing world can avoid construction of fossil fuel power plants that will seriously impact global air pollution. We can help the developing world leapfrog the smokestack era our country went through on its road to becoming the world's most successful democracy and powerful economy. And by assisting those nations with new sources of reliable energy, they can increase their own standards of living. As they, in turn, need and develop high-technology products, we'll have new trading partners who can help each other reach enhanced prosperity.
Senator Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) is chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and author of A Brighter Tomorrow (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., www.rowmanlittlefield.com), from which this article has been excerpted. Copyright © 2004 by Pete V. Domenici. Reprinted with permission.
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