According to a release offered by cleantech analyst firm Kachan & Co., a number of representatives from various groups and business supporting nuclear energy advocated for the industry in Washington this week before members of the House and Senate energy committees. The groups were calling on Congress to consider new options for safer nuclear energy. Here are the details.
* The consortium of nuclear energy advocates was led by Thorium Energy Alliance, a nonprofit group of scientists, engineers and citizens interested in the development of nuclear plants that utilize thorium instead of uranium. The group is currently pursuing the restart of a thorium salt reactor program in the United States, the press release stated.
* According to Kachan & Co., who published a report on the matter in November, 2011, thorium salt reactors are just one of the alternative technologies that the United States could pursue. Others include: improvements in conventional light water reactors (LWRs), including boiling water reactors (BWRs) and pressurized water reactors (PWRs), molten salt reactors (MSRs), fast neutron reactors (FNRs), pebble bed reactors (PBRs), modular reactors, and latest approaches to neutronic and aneutronic fusion.
* Kachan & Co. is warning Congress that if it doesn't act quickly, the United States will not be a leader in nuclear technology, according to the press release. And part of acting quickly is pursuing safer alternatives to nuclear energy that are smaller in scale and don't use weaponizable products like uranium. The Chinese are already working on U.S.-developed energy options, including the thorium molten salt reactor.
* In a November press re lease announcing the publication of its report, Kachan & Co. stated that, in order for the nuclear industry to grow and meet power demands beyond 2030, it will have to move away from conventional reactors such as the one damaged in Japan. However, the company stated, nuclear innovators have a hard time fighting the status quo of energy giants such as Areva, Westinghous and General Electric.
* In a letter to the House and Senate Energy Committees this week, Dallas Kachan, of Kachan & Co., stated that the findings of the company's report are not encouraging for the United States. "The new nuclear technologies examined in our report are not the ones the world has come to know and fear," Kachan wrote. "Some of these technologies are even being developed by American companies. But none stand the chance of being trialed or adopted in the U.S. given the country's current regulatory regime."
There are no comments yet