NPR—Talk of the Nation: As Nuclear Plants Age, No Easy Energy Solutions
http://www.npr.org/2011/12/27/144324421/as-nuclear-plants-age-no-easy-energy-solutions[font face=Times,Times New Roman,Serif][font size=5]As Nuclear Plants Age, No Easy Energy Solutions[/font]
December 27, 2011
[font size=3]Nuclear power generates 20 percent of electricity in the U.S., but the nation's reactors are aging and new plants are expensive and take years to build. Gas, coal, wind and solar are potential alternatives, but all have environmental or logistical drawbacks.
NEAL CONAN, HOST:
This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. No nuclear power plants have been built in this country since the accident at Three Mile Island more than 30 years ago. The old reactors continue to provide 20 percent of our electrical power, but many of them will start to come offline in the next 10 years or so.
Given the time it takes to construct any kind of power plant, decisions have to be made soon about how we replace one-fifth of our electrical power and add the additional capacity we're going to need. There are no easy answers or single solutions, and the issues are enormous: politics, economics, climate change, national security, the balance of trade, jobs.
JOYCE: Thank you very much. The AP1000 plant that was approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, it's built by Westinghouse, it's something of a white knight, if you will, because as you said, the nuclear industry has been feeble, if you will, for a long time and for very many reasons: financial reasons, for safety reasons, for public skepticism.
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