Nuclear Energy Urged
Posted on: Monday, 25 July 2005, 15:01 CDT
Scott Denman's op-ed, "No future in nuclear" (BDN, July 13), ignores the economic and environmental contributions of nuclear energy to America's energy portfolio.
Nuclear energy provides electricity to one in five homes and businesses, and is by far the nation's largest emission-free source of electricity. With a projected 50 percent increase in the demand for electricity over the next 20 years, the United States will need to rely on nuclear energy, along with other sources of electricity generation and enhanced conservation efforts, to meet our energy needs and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
By operating today's 103 reactors more efficiently and reliably, the U.S. nuclear industry already has added the equivalent of 26 power plants to the electrical grid during the past 15 years.
Denman's well-intentioned recommendation of renewable energy sources is part of a comprehensive energy solution. Even after government support for the past 30 years, renewables remain only a small fraction of overall electricity supply. Few consider them a practical solution to address the growing need for reliable, 24-7 supplies of electricity.
For example, construction of the wind-power projects that Denman touts ground to a halt in 2003 during a lapse in the federal production tax credit for new wind farms. In fact, the lack of such incentives has brought to a standstill the development of Maine's first wind-power project on Mars Hill Mountain. That speaks volumes about the economics of wind energy.
Renowned environmentalists, including James Lovelock, Patrick Moore and Stewart Brand, have endorsed nuclear energy in recent months as part of the solution to meet growing energy needs and reduce greenhouse gases. Would Denman have us believe these icons of the environmental movement are disingenuous in their support of clean, domestic energy sources?
Or is he simply part of an ever- shrinking anti-nuclear community that would leave Americans literally in the dark?
Scott Peterson
Vice president
Nuclear Energy Institute
Washington, D.C.
Source: Bangor Daily News
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