No time to waste on going nuclear

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE:FEARS ABOUT greenhouse-gas emissions from burning fossil fuels to generate electricity and about security of supply in an insecure world are slowly propelling Ireland towards nuclear power.

A nuclear power plant is a highly specialised construction and most components are not easily available. They must be manufactured and rigorously tested in a small number of accredited production facilities. The problem is that the expertise and capacity to build nuclear power plants is very limited and is now confronting a big increase in demand. The time gap between placing an order and commissioning a nuclear power plant is growing rapidly. If we don’t order soon we will have to wait an inordinately long time before such a plant comes on line in Ireland.

The nuclear industry went into a tailspin after the Three Mile Island accident in 1977 and crash-landed in 1986 with the massive explosion at Chernobyl. Demand for new plants has been minimal for the past 25 years and the specialised capacity to build these plants has declined to a low level. The industry is now struggling desperately to cope with increased demand as more countries choose nuclear power as a vital component of their energy mix. Nuclear power plant suppliers have full order books and new customers must join a lengthening queue.

Nuclear power taps the enormous energy released when uranium undergoes nuclear fission. Uranium fission was the basis for the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. In nuclear power, fission is controlled so that an explosion cannot occur, but even controlled fission is an awesome process. It takes place inside the containment vessel, the heart of the nuclear power plant. Obviously this vessel must be built to the highest standards to minimise the risk of a radiation leak. The best way to fabricate this vessel is to produce it in a single piece and the only plant in the world capable of doing this is Japan Steel Works in Hokkaido.

Japan Steel Works can only produce four containment vessels per year. This is not enough to meet the rate of incoming orders and even when the plant doubles capacity in two years, it will still fall short. Consequently, power utilities that don’t need the equipment for years are now placing $100 million (€78 million) down-payments to book their place in the queue. Other manufacturers are working to break Japan Steel’s stranglehold on the market but it could take five or more years to catch up.

Japan Steel makes the containment vessel from a 600-ton steel ingot. It developed its technological prowess when making the 18-inch gun barrels, then the largest in the world, for the second World War battleship Yamato. The other prized product made by Japan Steel is the samurai sword.

If Ireland had ordered a nuclear power plant in 1999 it would be working today (five years of planning and five years of construction), producing clean and relatively cheap electricity. If we decide on nuclear power today, we might still make this 10-year target. If we decide in two years’ time, the nuclear power plant will probably take 15 years to deliver. Every week we delay our decision puts months on the delivery date.

Ireland has opposed nuclear power for three main reasons. Two no longer apply and the third has become a much smaller problem. First is cost: the supplier of the plant will fund its installation at very little risk to the Irish economy. Nuclear-produced electricity has a low and stable price tag. Second is safety: modern western reactors are among the safest means of generating electricity, as we have seen over the past decades in France, America, Spain, Germany, and so on. Third is waste, or spent fuel: although this still a problem, it can now be handled to many peoples’ satisfaction ( for example, Finland is building a safe repository for spent fuel as a precondition for using its latest reactor).

A nuclear plant would reduce our carbon dioxide emissions by 16 per cent. By 2050 we must reduce these emissions by 80 per cent of 1990 emissions, but we are now 25 per cent above 1990 emission levels. Building the plant would provide up to 600 jobs for four years and up to 200 highly skilled jobs for 50 years.

Why don’t we solve our energy problem using free wind power? Some studies calculate that to get the benefits from wind as described above would cost several times the nuclear installation cost, making wind-generated electricity significantly more expensive than nuclear. If these considerations are correct, wind plants could strangle our economy and seriously undermine the reliability of electricity in Ireland.

A case can now be made that, in the short term, only nuclear energy can safeguard the economy, our jobs, the planet and our energy supply. We should therefore carefully consider this case.

William Reville is associate professor of biochemistry and public awareness of science officer at UCC – http://understandingscience.ucc.ie