We’re indebted to the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) for publishing its latest ‘Myths & Facts About Nuclear Energy’. The NEI – ‘is the policy organization of the nuclear energy and technologies industry and participates in both the national and global policy-making process’ – describes the document as a collection of ‘Synopses of Common Myths About Nuclear Energy and Corresponding Facts That Refute Them’.
In the first of a series, allow us to present some Corresponding Facts That Examine The Corresponding Facts That Refute Them.
The ‘Myth’: No new nuclear plants have been built in the past 30 years.
NEI’s ‘Fact’: While no new nuclear plants have been ordered since 1973, construction activity continued into the mid-1990s. Forty-five reactors were completed and put into service in the 1980s and five in the 1990s. The TVA Watts Bar 1 plant in Tennessee was placed on line in 1996, and the Watts Bar 2 plant is being completed and is expected to begin operation in 2012.
This isn’t the boast it seems on first reading. No new nuclear plants have been ordered since 1973 (in the US)? Why is that? The NEI don’t say. There are many reasons not least because the smart money historically sees nuclear power as a financial nightmare.
Also, if we follow the reasoning of this ‘fact’, if the TVA Watts Bar 1 wasn’t placed online until 1996 but ordering of new reactors stopped in 1973, that means it took 23 years for Watts Bar 1 to be built. (Fact: it did indeed take 23 years to build Watts Bar 1) It’ll be nearly 40 years for Watts Bar 2. Not exactly good adverts for the nuclear industry are they, those two reactors?
In summary, new nuclear plants have been built in the last 30 years, it’s just that it took decades to do so and the demand for new nuclear reactors has been dead since 1973. It’s really not something to which an organisation looking to promote nuclear power should be drawing attention.