Clean Energy Insight - Moving Energy Forward

[Approx. Read/Watch Time: 11 minutes]

“All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.”

- Ronald Reagan, US President

Imagine that the federal government forced everyone to use only 4% of the gasoline in their tanks and pour the other 96% down the drain.  This is exactly what the United States federal government is doing with nuclear power.  Only 4% of nuclear fuel is considered waste after being used in a reactor once-through.  The rest can be recycled and used again many times, reducing the volume of waste that exists after the fuel is exhausted.  I think that it’s important for everyone to know that while a handful of American politicians are going around telling everyone that nuclear fuel recycling is a science that “isn’t proven,” the French, Japanese and British have been recycling for decades.

The French-based company AREVA has been recycling nuclear fuel at their La Hague facility for over 30 years.  AREVA recently posted a video on their blog documenting and explaining their proven recycling activities at the La Hague facility.  Enjoy.

“Here’s an informative video that takes you inside the world’s #1 facility for reprocessing used nuclear fuel. The AREVA La Hague industrial complex, located just west of Cherbourg, has recycled more than 21,000 tons of used fuel since its inception, reducing the need for natural uranium and the amount of radioactive waste.”

( By AQG ) [Approx. Read Time: 1.5 minutes]

French nuclear giant AREVA and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding to break ground this evening on the first full-scale manufacturing facility dedicated to supply heavy components to the nuclear industry.  Click here to see the webcast live beginning at 6:00 p.m. EST.

AREVA and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, a sector of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC), have joined forces to build a new manufacturing and engineering facility in Newport News, Va., to supply the growing American nuclear energy sector. AREVA Newport News will be the first full-scale manufacturing facility dedicated to supply heavy components, such as reactor vessels, steam generators and pressurizers to the U.S.U.S. nuclear power plants to be built in 35 years. AREVA has been manufacturing quality heavy components for the global commercial nuclear industry for more than 30 years at its Chalon/St. Marcel plant. Industry experts have viewed limited production of heavy components positioned against rising demand as a constraint on nuclear energy’s expansion. The joint venture aims to establish a facility for manufacturing heavy components for the U.S. EPR, AREVA’s Generation III+ nuclear reactor. nuclear energy industry. These components will supply the first new

Together with Northrop Grumman’s experience, AREVA Newport News will provide a secure domestic link in the supply chain for deploying the U.S. EPR and supporting a diverse energy mix that will mean safe, clean, affordable electricity for Americans.

The 300,000 square-foot facility is estimated to bring more than 500 skilled hourly and salaried jobs to the Commonwealth of Virginia.

( By Carrington Dillon )

We posted an article a week ago on Duke Energy and AREVA’s plans to negotiate the construction of a 1,650 MW EPR in Piketon, Ohio.  Since then, Ohio Senator George Voinovich wrote this letter to the people of Ohio in support of the deal.  For the past eight years, Senator Voinovich has been either the Ranking Member or Chairman of the Senate Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee.

In the letter, Senator Voinovich expresses his enthusiasm for two nuclear industry projects slated to take place in Ohio. First, the Duke/AREVA announcement of the possible EPR and Nuclear energy production center in Piketon, Ohio.  Second, the Babcock & Wilcox announcement of their new mPower Modular Nuclear Reactor manufacturing centers slated for Euclid and Barberton, Ohio.

[ I wanted to write about the B&W mPower reactors earlier in the week, but Rod Adams over at Atomic Insights has done a great job following that story.  See here. ]

Senator Voinovich then states an interesting statistic.  It is widely known in the nuclear industry that nuclear power accounts for over 70 percent of emission free energy in the United States.  However, Sen. Voinovich brings up that wind and solar energies account for only 1.4 and 0.08 percent, respectively, of our nation’s emission free energy.

The next interesting topic that Sen. Voinovich covers is his previous conversation with President and CEO of Westinghouse, Dr. Aris Candris.  Dr. Candris cited an important fact to Sen. Voinovich; approximately 12,000 jobs are created for each new nuclear plant when you include manufacturing jobs.

I’d like to clarify that statement a slight bit.  The number is correct from recent economic impact studies done by energy utilities who plan to build new nuclear reactors.  However, those 12,000 jobs will be jobs that are either created or supported from the construction of the new plant.  I would hope that that technicality doesn’t  take away from the economic importance or magnitude of that number.  That is still the largest and most realistic job promise than any other energy industry has been able to make to date.

Here is the rest of Sen. Voinovich’s letter:

“We don’t want to be left behind. Now is the time for Ohio to take a leadership role on the nuclear stage with the vast amount of industrial talent in our great state, and to become a manufacturing center for nuclear components.

Organized labor gets it.

They understand expanding nuclear power will create a lot of well-paying jobs.

Everyone is starting to get it – nuclear is a three’fer: Without it, we will not be able to reach our goal of reducing carbon emissions; Without it, we will not be able to provide the base-load electricity our growing country will demand; And, without it, we will not be able to rebuild our manufacturing base.

Ohio is poised to be the heart of it all during the nuclear renaissance. Let’s seize the moment.”

Thank you, Senator, for standing up and publicly extolling the industry as an engine of job creation and growth.  We get it here at Clean Energy Insight.  Hopefully, the rest of your colleagues will follow.  When Clean Energy Insight starts our letter-writing campaign, we will be sure to send Sen. Voinovich a sincere Thank-you and post it here on the blog.

It’s being reported today that AREVA and Duke Energy will enter exclusive 18-month negotiations to build AREVA’s new generation EPR reactor in Ohio.   It must be true that when you can build a nuclear plant that can gross $2 million per day, an economic slump can’t do much to deter your operations.  Keep on trucking, AREVA. 

Check out the wire:

Areva, Duke To Sign Negotiation Deal Over US Nuclear Plant

AREVA in talks for EPR reactor deal in Ohio-report

More news to come…