Nuclear Energy Industry Looks for "Rebirth"

Now that the meltdown at Three Mile Island has faded from memory, the nuclear industry is claiming that the incident was actually a success because the radiation was contained. Following the 30-year anniversary of the disaster, some suggest that lessons learned have poised the energy industry for a nuclear rebirth.

The energy industry has been wary of nuclear power since the early morning of March 28, 1979, when water pumps failed in the Unit 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant along the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg, Pa., melting the radioactive fuel rods in the core and leaking radiation into the surrounding environment.

As radiation spread into local communities, regulators scrambled to place monitoring equipment and the governor of Pennsylvania eventually ordered the evacuation of pregnant women and children. The accident crippled the nuclear industry, costing over $100 billion and burning the fear of “meltdown” into the national consciousness. No more nuclear plants were ordered in the United States following the accident and none started after 1974 were completed.

The nuclear industry, however, says that it has learned from its mistakes and will place a sharper focus on safety, noting that reactors can generate electricity without the carbon emissions produced by coal-fired generators. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has applications from 17 companies to build 26 reactors—including a PPL proposal to build a plant in Berwick, Pa., near its Susquehanna plant.

Although no new nuclear plants have been constructed, the industry has spent $4 billion and created 15,000 jobs as part of a ramp-up over the last few years. The cost of building a nuclear plant has risen from a projected $4 billion to $5 billion a year ago to $6 billion to $8 billion now.

The NRC, which oversees the nation’s 104 civilian nuclear power plants, is reviewing proposals to construct new reactors. The industry has asked Congress to guarantee loans to pay for the construction costs. The estimated time from proposal to construction is 15 to 20 years. Experts in the industry expect the construction of six to eight new plants.

In Senate testimony this week, NRC Chairman Dale Klein emphasized his agency’s actions since the accident to tighten safety regulations. Industry leaders note that nuclear plants have operated for 20 million hours since the 1979 accident without an emergency of that magnitude. Nuclear plant designed have been strengthened, control room monitors have improved, and operators are given “what if” emergency training. Other plant protection plans were enacted to ensure against terrorist attacks, following Sept. 11, 2001.

The Obama administration has not been overly optimistic about nuclear energy, but he and his advisers say they support it. “I believe in nuclear power as a central part of our energy mix,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu recently told Congress. However, a push to include tens of billions of dollars in insurance for new nuclear reactors failed during the stimulus debate. The Obama administration also decided this month against storing nuclear waste at the Yucca Mountain facility in Nevada. Next week, the Senate Energy Committee will begin debating a bill that will decide whether nuclear power will be treated as a renewable energy source—it is currently not considered renewable, and would not be part of the Democrat’s proposed “Renewable Electricity Standard.”

Opponents say that those hoping for a nuclear renaissance are overlooking some obvious problems. The NRC fact sheet on the Three Mile Island incident acknowledges that the accident released a significant amount of radiation. According to the NRC, 10 million curies of radiation escaped the reactor’s core (1 curie = 37 billion radioactive atoms), but independent nuclear engineers have estimated that up to 150 million curies might have escaped.

The severity of the accident, and the government’s inability to evaluate the situation, illustrate some of the dangers of nuclear power. A 1997 study found that lung cancer and leukemia rates downwind from Three Mile Island were two to ten times higher than cancer rates upwind of the accident. Commentators point out that, although the industry would like to sell reactors as clean and safe, nuclear power can be dangerous and deadly.