Discussion at Columbia: "Examining A Carbon-Free Alternative" - U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner, Dr. Peter Lyons - April 29th

Yesterday I attended a discussion by Peter Lyons, one of the four Commissioners of the NRC. Peter Lyons focused his discussion on the NRC's role as a regulatory agency for nuclear power reactors at the commercial and civilian level. According to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, the NRC's duties include being able to "assure adequate protection of public health and safety in operation of nuclear generation". Other legislation, such as the National Environmental Policy Act is important in recognizing the duties of the NRC. The Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) is another agency that helps "promote excellence in the power of nuclear generation". Unlike the NRC, which has the authority to pull licenses and stop a nuclear plant from operating, the INPO has other ways of enforcing its rules. For instance, the INPO is the sole authority that decides the rates of insurance numbers for all operating plants, so complying within their guidelines is beneficial to the bottom line for all plants.

As most of you can imagine, building new nuclear plants is a daunting task. We have not seen a lot of new plant construction in the United States, and the last permit was issued decades ago in 1978. There are 104 plants operating in the US currently, and 120 plant orders have been canceled. So there are MORE plants canceled than even operating in existence in the US. Given the difficult process and approval schemes with regulatory, legal, and financing nuclear plants, it is extremely difficult to actually complete a nuclear plant and bring it online. In the nuclear generation community, it is well known that the process is extremely rigid and the chance of plants withdrawing midway through a project is the almost generally expected.

Many critics of nuclear energy say that the issues of safety, and nuclear waste are not worth the benefits of this carbon free energy source. However, in France and other countries, many of the nuclear plants reprocess their nuclear waste. This issue is yet to be decided in the United States. Other issues that come up are capital costs, project finance, and investments. Is there cash available to build these plants? And lastly, nuclear plants face Regulatory enforcements that they must comply with.

Renewable energy has become a popular topic in the Untied States and abroad. A lot of people are asking about nuclear power as an alternative energy source. We all know that France is a huge nuclear player and considering nuclear generation is carbon neutral (it does not produce any carbon emissions), many energy companies are fighting for the right to promote nuclear power as a renewable energy source. Other energy sources have a high carbon footprint, and given the cap and trade scheme that may possibly play out this next year in the United States, this could be a huge selling point. Peter Lyons talks about a possible nuclear Renaissance emerging worldwide as the public tries to understand the pros and cons of nuclear power when comparing it to other types of power generation.

The challenges in the future of nuclear power are 1) technology (both current and digital), 2) Communications, and 3) Workforce. In the Technology department, we have very few digital monitors, and the government is very cautious in allowing digital control systems which introduces a new set of failures. In regards to Communications, we have several security issues with nuclear power and its challenging to inform the public without giving away some information that may be problematic for national security. The question remains, "how do we communicate to the topics of risk management, risk analysis, and radiation risks" in a world of potential international threats? And the third topic of discussion, is the workforce. The nuclear engineers in the world today are aging, and we are going to need a lot of new and enthusiastic talent to help lead the nuclear generation field. Our current system in the US is outdated and inefficient. The power plants were built in an earlier time and era and we face several challenges and difficulties as we try to reform legislation and technologies in preparing to build new plants.