Re: loosing, Tooth Fairy Project

["Michael C. Baker" <mcbaker@lanl.gov>]

> > How do you explain this world-wide  decline
> > in nuclear power production?

I couldn't locate the original email in which someone posted the statement 
above, but I wanted to point out that this is not correct.  There has not 
been a world-wide decline in nuclear power production.  Matter of fact, the 
nuclear industry is having record setting years in the late 90s.    And in 
the first quarter of the year 2000, energy production by nuclear power in 
the US is up 7.4%.  In 1999, U.S. nuclear plants generated a record 728 
billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. In 1998, they produced 673.7 billion 
kWh.

In the US, the average electricity production cost in 1998 for coal was 
2.07 cents per kilowatt-hour, for nuclear 2.13 cents, for oil 3.24 cents, 
and for gas 3.30 cents (calculated in 1999 dollars). Six of the nine 
largest investor-owned utilities by revenue were nuclear utilities in 1998. 
The top investor-owned utility by profit was a nuclear utility, and six of 
the next nine profit leaders were nuclear utilities.  Eight of the top ten 
"market value-added" energy companies between 1995 and 1998 operate nuclear 
plants, a measure of shareholder wealth creation.

Nuclear power plants provided some 17 percent of the world's energy 
production in 1999. In total, 17 countries relied on nuclear energy to 
supply at least one-quarter of their total electricity.

Setting records for energy production, hardly supports a "world-wide" decline.

Mike

__________________________
Michael C. Baker

Environmental Technology Group
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Mail Stop J594
Los Alamos, NM 87545

mcbaker@lanl.gov

(505) 667-7334 (phone)
(505) 665-8346 (fax)
(505) 996-3519 (pager)
__________________________


************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html