Nuclear Energy Support Near Record High in U.S.

Reliable and affordable energy is critical to prosperity.  It can’t be done any other way.  Energy is necessary to get anything done.

Everything is a trade-off.  No source of energy works best for every situation.

Solar energy works great where most days are sunny or the site is isolated and not much energy is needed.

Wind energy only works great where sunny days are rare, wind is plentiful and the site is isolated.

Gas, oil and natural gas work great where a high energy density is needed or the supply is continuous.

Nuclear energy works great when the demand is constant.

America has never had a coherent energy policy.  Special interest groups and political considerations have always taken priority.  There are many problems to fix, but electricity generation is a large segment that can be addressed.

Nuclear power is safe, reliable and efficient.  A nuclear power plant is not good at changing the supply to meet the demand.  France uses nuclear power plants to generate two-thirds of their electricity.  That’s more than they need, so France exports electricity to nearby countries.  The US generates less than a fifth of our electricity from nuclear power.  We should be generating about half of our electricity from nuclear power.

In the US, fuel rods are removed and discarded when the rods are 25% depleted.  During Jimmy Carter’s term, the reprocessing fuel rods was banned.  That needs to be reversed.

Radioactive byproducts can be processed and used for medical and industrial uses.  The US currently imports radioactive substances as needed.  Radioactive byproducts with no productive uses can be handled safely, the way France does.

Unnecessary and burdensome regulations have suffocated the nuclear power industry in America.  Nuclear power plant designs have been standardized and small, modular power plants are a possibility.  The regulatory process has to be streamlined.

Public opinion is frequently cited as the reason for the lack of new power plants.  Gallup shows that in the past 30 years, there were only a few time intervals when the opposed view was larger than the approve opinion.  During Obama’s first term, public approval of nuclear power was at record levels.  Obama did nothing.

Trump needs to take the initiative, as he has on so many popular issues, and invigorate the nuclear power industry.  Congress needs to legislate to insure that new plants can become operational.