MIT on "Future Of Nuclear Energy"

[Susan L Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

MIT on "Future Of Nuclear Energy"; Professors Deutch, Moniz Led Study on 

Solutions for Nuclear Option in Reducing Greenhouse Gases



7/29/03 10:07:00 AM

To: National Desk, Environment and Science Reporters

Contact: David Dreyer or Eric London, 202-986-0033



WASHINGTON, July 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A distinguished team of 

researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and 

Harvard released today what co-chair Dr. John Deutch calls "the most 

comprehensive, interdisciplinary study ever conducted on the future of 

nuclear energy."



The report maintains that "The nuclear option should be retained 

precisely because it is an important carbon-free source of power."



"Fossil fuel-based electricity is projected to account for more than 40 

percent of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2020," said Deutch. "In 

the U.S. 90 percent of the carbon emissions from electricity generation 

come from coal-fired generation, even though this accounts for only 52 

percent of the electricity produced. Taking nuclear power off the table 

as a viable alternative will prevent the global community from achieving 

long-term gains in the control of carbon dioxide emissions."



But the prospects for nuclear energy as an option are limited, the 

report finds, by four unresolved problems: high relative costs; 

perceived adverse safety, environmental, and health effects; potential 

security risks stemming from proliferation; and unresolved challenges in 

long-term management of nuclear wastes.



The study examines a growth scenario where the present deployment of 360 

GWe of nuclear capacity worldwide is expanded to 1000 GWe in mid- 

century, keeping nuclear's share of the electricity market about 

constant. Deployment in the U.S. would expand from about 100 GWe today 

to 300 GWe in mid-century. This scenario is not a prediction, but rather 

a study case in which nuclear power would make a significant 

contribution to reducing CO2 emissions.



"There is no question that the up-front costs associated with making 

nuclear power competitive, are higher than those associated with fossil 

fuels," said Dr. Moniz. "But as our study shows, there are many ways to 

mitigate these costs and, over time, the societal and environmental 

price of carbon emissions could dramatically improve the competitiveness 

of nuclear power."



The study offers a number of recommendations for making the nuclear 

energy option viable, including:



-- Placing increased emphasis on the once-through fuel cycle as best 

meeting the criteria of low costs and proliferation resistance;



-- Offering a limited production tax-credit to 'first movers' - private 

sector investors who successfully build new nuclear plants. This tax 

credit is extendable to other carbon-free electricity technologies and 

is not paid unless the plant operates;



-- Having government more fully develop the capabilities to analyze 

life-cycle health and safety impacts of fuel cycle facilities;



-- Advancing a U.S. Department of Energy balanced long-term waste 

management R&D program.



-- Urging DOE to establish a Nuclear System Modeling project that would 

collect the engineering data and perform the analysis necessary to 

evaluate alternative reactor concepts and fuel cycles using the criteria 

of cost, safety, waste, and proliferation resistance. Expensive 

development projects should be delayed pending the outcome of this 

multi-year effort.



-- Giving countries that forego proliferation- risky enrichment and 

reprocessing activities a preferred position to receive nuclear fuel and 

waste management services from nations that operate the entire fuel cycle.



The authors of the study emphasized that nuclear power is not the only 

non-carbon option and stated that they believe it should be pursued as a 

long term option along with other options such as the use of renewable 

energy sources, increased efficiency, and carbon sequestration.



The members of the study team are: John Deutch (co-chair), Ernest Moniz 

(co-chair), S. Ansolabehere, Michael Driscoll, Paul Gray, John Holdren 

(Harvard), Paul Joskow, Richard Lester, and Neil Todreas.



Members of the Advisory Committee included: former U.S. Congressman Phil 

Sharp (chair), former White House Chiefs of Staff John Podesta and John 

Sununu, John Ahearne, Tom Cochran, Linn Draper, Ted Greenwood, John 

MacWilliams, Jessica Mathews, Zack Pate, and Mason Willrich.



For a complete copy of the study, please visit: 

http://web.mit.edu/nuclearpower. This study was conducted with support 

from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and by MIT's Office of the Provost 

and Laboratory for Energy and the Environment.

-- 

.....................................................

Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director

Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee

102 Robertsville Road, Suite B, Oak Ridge, TN 37830

Toll free 888-770-3073 ~ www.local-oversight.org

.....................................................





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