Reuters:  Trump to sign orders to boost nuclear power

Reuters:  Bipartisan group of US lawmakers introduce bill to boost nuclear power

I am thrilled by both of these developments.  Nuclear power is necessary for America to prosper, but it hasn’t gotten much attention.  If Trump and lawmakers from both parties encourage nuclear power, everyone will be better off.

In the last four years, public support for nuclear energy has gone up about 3% each year.  Pew Research says that 56% of Americans favor nuclear power.  That is without nuclear power getting much coverage or discussion.

The Pew survey also says that 78% view solar power favorably with wind power at 72%.  Neither of those are real solutions at the national level.  If people considered that wind turbines ruin the view, kill a bunch of birds and are scrapped after 20 years, few people would view wind power favorably.

Nuclear power is safe and reliable.  Excessive government regulations keep nuclear power from being economically viable.  It’s critical for the government to get involved.

Governmental regulations also makes it difficult to address nuclear waste.  When a fuel rod is 25% depleted, the rod is discarded.  Reprocessing spent rods reduces waste.  France generates 65% of it’s electricity with nuclear power plants.  They have resolved the nuclear waste issue, and we should mimic their procedures.

In the US, about 20% of our electricity comes from nuclear power plants.  Two new nuclear power plants became operational in Georgia, but before that, the US didn’t start construction on a nuke plant for 35 years.  Most of our nuclear power plants are over 50 years old and running at 90% capacity.  Nuclear technology has advanced significantly in 50 years.

With 1% growth in our electricity requirements and retiring nuke plants at 60 years old, we will need to build 20 nuclear power plants by 2030 and a total of 55 by 2035 to remain at the 20% share of national electricity production.  We won’t meet those goals, so plants will request operating extensions.

The smart move would be to choose one standardized design, and begin planning on 40 power plants immediately.  In five years, review advances in design, and initiate 40 more plants.

Each of the new nuclear power plants in Georgia took 14 years to build and cost $20 billion.  If 40 power plants of the same design are built and excessive governmental regulations are eliminated, both the time and money may be cut in half.

If economies of scale and government cooperation doesn’t reduce the cost, 40 plants would run to $800 billion.  Who cares?

Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 cost about that much, and nobody noticed where all that money went.

The Covid Pandemic Stimulus cost $5 trillion, and that entire exercise was completely pointless.

If the US Government spends $200 billion every year for nuclear power plant construction, after a couple of decades, everyone will have cheap, safe and reliable electricity.  That will benefit manufacturing, artificial intelligence servers, electric vehicles, residential heating and every other technology that comes along.

Currently, 43% of our electricity comes from power plants consuming natural gas.  If that fraction can be reduced, then natural gas would be cheaper.  That is also good for the American people.

I get that some percentage of Americans have an irrational, knee-jerk opposition to anything that President Trump supports.  They have to get over it, and stop being stupid.  Rational differences of opinions are welcome, but emotional outbursts are not productive.  Trump has several Democrats in his administration.  Over time, the percentage of people with Trump Derangement Syndrome will dwindle until nobody cares what they say or want, and they become irrelevant.