What Japanese Utilities Plan
As all the nuclear reactors, roughly 50, are stopped in Japan in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident, major utilities in Japan have decided to introduce more thermal electric power plants.
Specifically, Tohoku Electric Power Co. plans to build a 1.2 million kWh plant; Chubu Electric Power Co. 1 million kWh plant; Kansai Electric Power Co. 1.5 million kWh; and Kyushu Electric Power Co. 1 million kWh. As one nuclear reactor outputs 1 million kWh, each of these regional major utilities is to add a capacity of power production from a thermal plant which is equivalent to one nuclear reactor. They will totally cover about 5 halted nuclear reactors.
So, the Japanese industry is expected to be busy, receiving orders for construction of new power generation plants from the utilities.
But what if the US with 100 nuclear reactors running for electricity generation has decided to stop use of nuclear energy for supply of electricity to the public?
Can US stop using nuclear power?
9:51 PM, Mar. 18, 2011
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, nuclear energy accounted for 806,968,000 megawatt hours of electricity in the U.S. in 2010. That was about 19.6 percent of the total. Natural gas accounted for 23.8 percent, and coal was the 800-pound gorilla at 44.9 percent. All other sources totaled about 11.7 percent.
Simply put, we just can't dam enough rivers or generate enough renewable energy sources to make up such a gap for any number of years. Yes, we have dramatically improved our use of renewable energy, at an annual average rate of 7.6 percent since 2000. Even so, at that rate, it would take until 2032 to generate the same amount of electricity, with all non-hydroelectric renewable sources, as nuclear did last year.
Who knows what our energy demands will be in a couple of decades? If our population increases the way it has for the past 20 years, I imagine we will consume more energy as opposed to less.
As a result, you don't have to have an advanced degree from M.I.T. to come to the conclusion that to wean ourselves off nuclear, we would have to consume more coal and natural gas for some time. The only problem is there currently isn't enough domestic supply of either.
Sure, there is a lot of coal under the ground in the United States, as well as a lot of natural gas. However, we actually run a sizable trade deficit in natural gas, with Canada supplying most of our shortfall. As for coal, we are a net exporter of the stuff, but nowhere near large enough to accommodate such a spike in domestic demand. It would be years before we could get enough mines and rigs up to full production, as well as jump through all the necessary environmental hoops and red tape to make it happen.
In the meantime, what do you think would happen to the price of coal and natural gas? Yeah, they would go up, a lot, meaning the cost of generating electricity would go up a lot as well. Guess who gets to eat a chunk of those cost increases?
If every nuclear facility went off-line tomorrow, existing capacity at other facilities could accommodate a good amount of the shortfall, but not quite all of it. As a result, utilities across the country would have to put up a number of new generators, and that requires a lot of time, red tape and money. Guess who gets to bear the brunt of those costs as well?
In the end, yes, we eventually could wean ourselves off nuclear power and not ever have to worry about what is happening in Japan happening here. However, there would be repercussions, both environmental and in cost to the consumer, potentially significant ones.
As it stands right now, few politicians want to make those hard decisions.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20110319/BUSINESS/103190304/Can-US-stop-using-nuclear-power-
However, they should have second thought about their future in terms of safety and soundness of men and environments not only economic efficiency and profits.
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Mat 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Mat 4:2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Mat 4:3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
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Mat 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Mat 4:2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Mat 4:3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.