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In an article released today by Reuters, some light was shed on a study done by EPRI which calls for 45 more Nuclear reactors in the United States by 2030. The study takes into consideration many different scenarios such as climate legislation, increase in cost of electricity, price to construct nuclear plants, increase in number of electric plug in cars and trucks, etc.
You might think 45 is a lot of new plants to build, but if you take into consideration that this is over 21 years away and the status of the licensing of existing plants, this is very feasible. Many plants will be at the end of their 20 year license extension around year 2030 and will have to be shut down and decommissioned. Therefore, we have to look at the affect that decommissioning plants will have to the overall nuclear power produced along with the CO2 prevented from nuclear power production.
Currently, Nuclear power makes up about 20% of the energy produced in the US today. It also accounts for almost 700 million metric tons of CO2 avoided in the US. Compare this to 200 million metric tons of CO2 avoided by hydro power, 27 million by wind power, and 0.5 million by solar power. If we want to keep that 20% of power produced and the avoidance of 700 million metric tons, these new 45 plant reactors will be crucial. Taking the decommissioning plants into consideration, the new 45 plants will help in replacing the loss of existing plants, along with adding more energy production and CO2 avoidance.
This EPRI report also indicates something very important that most people forget to see, EPRI states that in order to reduce CO2 emissions and keep costs from getting out of control, we need a MIX of all forms of energy not just one or two. The truth is the right mix is one that includes a large portion of nuclear with an increase use of solar, wind and other renewable technologies.
