ELECTRICITY U.S. nuclear power industry stands on the verge of revival

Utilities hope to build at least three new nuclear plants.
DALLAS MORNING NEWS
DALLAS -- A few years ago, the nation's nuclear power industry seemed to be on a path toward steady decline.
The chance of a new U.S. nuclear power plant's breaking through financial barriers and public opposition was so unlikely that the issue had dropped off the nation's political radar.
But today, the nuclear power industry is facing its best prospect for revival in a quarter-century, thanks to strong support from top legislators, newer technology and skyrocketing natural gas prices.
Government officials as powerful as Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan are rallying for the development of new nuclear power plants, to promote energy diversity and fend off damage to the economy from upheaval in the natural gas markets.
Second-largest source
For two decades, nuclear reactors have been the nation's second-largest source of electricity, behind coal. Their advancement in the 1970s helped eliminate oil as a major source of electricity generation, as dependency on oil imports rocked the economy.
With the nation increasingly dependent on natural gas today, and on the cusp of becoming a major gas importer, the nuclear power industry has gained support across the country in the name of the economy and energy security.
"I think it's likely that a new nuclear plant will be built somewhere in the U.S. within the next five to 10 years," said Wes Taylor, president of production at TXU Corp., Texas' largest utility.
At least three utilities plan to seek permits for new nuclear reactors, and supporters in Washington are lining up to push the industry into a new era and prove the financial viability of nuclear power.
The U.S. Senate narrowly backed a plan in June to support the industry through loan guarantees, research funds and the permanent reauthorization of the Price-Anderson Act, which limits the liability of nuclear operators.
The financial assistance could cover up to half the project costs of the first new nuclear plants -- through loan guarantees or lines of credit -- at a cost of $14 billion to $16 billion, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Critics up in arms
But critics of nuclear power are up in arms over the financial backing of an industry that had been on track for a steady decline.
"This is completely the opposite of the kinds of energy policies that we need to reorient our energy dependence toward safe, clean and affordable energy sources," said Lisa Gue, an energy analyst at Public Citizen, which backs more investment in wind, solar and other renewable energy technologies.
Critics already are organizing opposition to the new plants. On her family farm in Mississippi, Martha Ferris said she had always felt uncomfortable about Entergy Corp.'s nuclear power plant 35 miles away. But when she learned of the company's plans for a new reactor, she went from being a quiet observer to a community activist.
"When people are confronted by the facts of nuclear waste and the vulnerable position it puts people in as a nuclear target, they are angry," she said. "It's so irresponsible, not just for the public now but for the generations ahead."
Commercial nuclear power captured the public imagination half a century ago, with the promise of nearly limitless, low-cost power to feed the nation's growing appetite for electricity.
Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Lewis Strauss famously proclaimed in 1954 that nuclear plants would someday provide electricity "too cheap to meter."
Bad turn
But widespread political and public support reversed in the 1970s and 1980s as utilities lost billions of dollars on construction delays and plant cancellations. And the miraculous source of power turned into the nation's most expensive -- and most controversial -- way of generating electricity.
A new reactor hasn't been ordered in the United States since 1978. But nuclear power advocates say that the last two decades have brought a vastly different set of circumstances -- enhanced safety records, far more efficient operations and sharply improved performance levels. The nation's 103 nuclear reactors operate at 90 percent of their capacity today, compared with 56 percent in 1980.
And even as the U.S. industry quieted, other countries built nuclear plants on budget and on schedule.
In a world that's increasingly concerned about carbon dioxide emissions and global warming, nuclear power is the largest electricity source that doesn't pollute the air. Lawmakers around the world have embraced that aspect of nuclear power, even though critics bristle at the suggestion.
"There's certainly a level of disingenuity connected to the argument that nuclear power is clean," said Gue. "To suggest trading carbon emissions for radiation risks is really to make a mockery of clean energy xgoals."