If Maine were to embrace nuclear energy, it could save our economy

The sudden surge in the price of heating oil, up sharply since last year, serves as a stark reminder of something we’d rather not contemplate. Sometime in the not-too-distant future, heating oil will become virtually unaffordable for average Mainers. Our crumbling dollar is partly to blame for the fact that oil is now nearly $100 per barrel.

More disturbing are reports that we have reached “peak oil,” the point where production begins to dwindle worldwide. At the same time, China and India are putting tens of millions of new cars on the road.

Most households in Maine heat with oil, so a severe and permanent oil crisis could be devastating. We could all move south, I suppose, but that’s not realistic. We could turn to wood stoves for heat, like Mainers of yesteryear, but all that wood smoke would foul our air. We could return to the days of shoveling coal into basement furnaces, but coal exhaust contributes to climate change.

Fortunately, we won’t have to resort to such extreme measures if we take advantage of the one energy source that can generate all the electricity we could ever use, without harming the atmosphere. Maine’s salvation lies in nuclear energy. Indeed, if the United States relied on nuclear power as much as France, we would avoid sending 2.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year.

Maine’s only nuclear power plant, Maine Yankee, produced most of the state’s electricity during its years of operation. Over the course of the plant’s eight-year decommissioning, completed in 2004, Maine turned to power plants running on natural gas. Unfortunately, the price of gas has soared since, giving Maine some of the most expensive electricity in the country, hampering our economy. The world’s supply of natural gas is finite, and burning it to generate electricity releases carbon dioxide, a prime suspect in global warming.

Nuclear power may be controversial, but the rest of the world is building nuclear plants as quickly as possible. They want to keep their societies functioning as twilight comes to the age of petroleum. Egypt recently announced that it will build several nuclear plants. China currently has four reactors and plans a five-fold increase by 2020. Of the 31 nuclear power plants under construction worldwide, 16 are being built in developing countries, mostly in China and India. South Korea and Japan are building more nuclear power generators. The United States has the most nuclear plants in operation, 104 in all, but they are mostly out west and a new one hasn’t been built in decades. Nuclear provides 20 percent of electricity consumed by Americans. Canada has 18 nuclear reactors in operation.

As of this year, there are 439 nuclear power reactors operating around the world, in 31 different countries, producing 16 percent of the electricity consumed globally.

It’s important to note that plant safety has increased dramatically, with engineers and operating companies benefiting from the experience of running plants since the 1970s and 1980s. Moreover, alternative methods of nuclear waste reprocessing conceivably could minimize the storage and disposal controversy. The old method of reprocessing removed plutonium, which is used in nuclear weapons. Newer methods do not separate the plutonium; the waste is instead used in “fast reactors,” which consume most of the radioactive elements.

Congress recently streamlined the application process for new nuclear power plants. Design and operating permits are now combined, so utilities will not face the prospect of investing billions of dollars to build a state of the art facility and then be prohibited from operating it. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 provides incentives for construction through production tax credits for the first 6,000 megawatts, insurance for debt service for the first few plants if commercial operation is delayed, and federal loan guarantees for up to 80 percent of the total project cost.

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has helped speed things up by now approving the design for nuclear reactors from manufacturers such as Westinghouse and General Electric. Plants can be built more quickly because only the design modifications have to be approved before construction begins. Nonetheless, from start to finish, it still takes nearly 10 years to bring a new nuclear plant on line.

We have a serious decision to make in Maine. If we act now and start on a new nuclear plant, we can minimize the impact of the coming oil squeeze. That could help us maintain a viable economy and keep our homes and workplaces warm in winter. You might have to replace your oil furnace with electric heat, but least we would control our own destiny.

If we wait too long to make a move, however, we will be completely vulnerable to forces far beyond our control.

Rep. Bob Walker, M.D., a first-term Republican legislator, lives in Lincolnville. He represents House District 44, Appleton, Hope, Islesboro, Liberty, Lincolnville, Morrill and Searsmont.