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Nov 23, 2005 -- STATE DEPARTMENT RELEASE/ContentWorks
Greater use of nuclear energy could help meet the world's increasing need for power to fuel economic growth, U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell says. The Bush administration "believes that nuclear power must play an enlarged role to meet the global demand for clean, affordable, safe, and reliable sources of energy, not just in the United States, but around the world," he said. But Sell cautioned that although nuclear energy can provide "incredible benefits," it also has inherent risks. The challenge for nuclear energy development is to find ways to increase the use of nuclear power while maintaining safeguards, the energy official said, citing concerns over the possibility of nuclear weapons programs in North Korea and Iran as well as the threat from terrorist organizations like al-Qaida. Enriched uranium is the primary fuel for nuclear power reactors but also can be used in the development of nuclear weapons. The United States is expanding the use of safe nuclear energy through international forums to accelerate development of advanced nuclear energy systems that offer sustainability, safety and proliferation resistance, according to the deputy secretary. Sell also cited the U.S. effort to achieve an effective nonproliferation regime by calling on nations with uranium enrichment and reprocessing capabilities to refuse to sell enrichment and processing equipment to any state that does not already possess "full-scale, functioning enrichment and reprocessing plants." The deputy secretary also lauded Japan for its commitment to responsible nonproliferation practices. Currently, Japan has 16 operational nuclear power reactors, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. organization tasked with verifying nuclear safety and security. In Japan, nuclear facilities are designed so that earthquakes and other external events will not jeopardize the safety of the plants. According to Sell, Japan is currently the world's fourth largest energy consumer and second largest energy importer. For additional information on U.S. nonproliferation efforts, see Arms Control and Non-Proliferation and the State Department electronic journal Today's Nuclear Equation. Following is the prepared text of Sell's remarks: (begin text) U.S. Department of Energy November 21, 2005 US-Japan Nuclear Energy Conference Remarks Prepared for Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell I am pleased to be here with you this morning. As President Bush mentioned in his visit to Kyoto last week, Japan and the U.S. are good friends, in part because we have so much in common. We are democracies, allies, and trading partners. Both our societies are technologically advanced and well educated. And because Japan is the world's fourth largest energy consumer, and second largest energy importer, it shares many of the same energy challenges as the United States. Moreover, we are both conscientious about the effects that our energy use has on the environment. So each of us is looking to the promise of nuclear power to keep our economies growing. That is why I think this year's Santa Fe conference is particularly timely. We can only benefit by working together in this important effort to expand the supply of clean, affordable energy. But despite the many characteristics we share, we are hardly alone in this respect. The desire for reliable, environmentally friendly energy is something the whole world has in common. On the one hand, therefore, the need for peaceful nuclear power all over the globe has never been more apparent. Yet, at the same time, I think we all recognize that the proliferation threat posed by nuclear materials and technology has never been more grave. These are the two considerations, the two challenges, that I believe must guide our thinking about nuclear power today. First, most analysts agree that the coming decades will be marked by economic expansion around the globe. In particular, we should expect to see growth in many parts of the developing world, from China and India to South America and Africa. If these forecasts are correct, it will mean the improvement of living standards for people all over the planet. It will mean the rescue of millions from poverty and despair, a development all of us would welcome. But with economic growth also comes a commensurate growth in the worldwide energy demand. Our Department's Energy Information Administration estimates perhaps as much as 50 percent more by 2025, with more than half of that growth coming in the world's emerging economies. This rise is anticipated to be especially steep with regard to electricity. In fact, we estimate world electricity demand to increase by nearly 75 percent over the next two decades. Finding clean and reliable ways to generate all this electric power is essential because electricity is the energy source of the Digital Age, a compact, efficient, nearly-instant source of power, which runs everything from light bulbs and refrigerators to surgical lasers and supercomputers. But, while recent world energy forecasts predict large increases in the use of oil, coal and natural gas over the next quarter century, they estimate only a slight increase in the growth of nuclear power in comparison with other energy sources. For the sake of our future energy security, and to help us honor our responsibility to protect the environment, the outlook for nuclear energy must change. If we don't expand nuclear power in the U.S., its percentage of our electricity production would drop from its current 20 percent to about 14 percent by 2025. Secretary Bodman recently said that allowing nuclear energy to undergo such a decline is economically and environmentally irresponsible. I certainly agree with that, and so does the President. Our Administration believes that nuclear power must play an enlarged role to meet the global demand for clean, affordable, safe, and reliable sources of energy, not just in the United States, but around the world. Recognizing the incredible benefits that nuclear energy can provide, however, does not blind us to the risks inherent in nuclear technology and materials. That brings me to the second of the two considerations I mentioned earlier, and that is the steps we must take to establish a sensible 21st century nonproliferation approach to the expanded global use of nuclear energy. After all, the grand ideas we nurse for the future of nuclear power can amount to nothing without the firmest possible commitment to control the spread of nuclear technologies, materials, and expertise. Clearly, North Korea and Iran pose major concerns regarding the development of nuclear weapons technology. But we also face another menace, in the form of terrorists like Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaeda network - fanatics who despise modern civilization, and would inflict unspeakable destruction if they obtained a nuclear bomb, or even radiological materials. The solution we must seek, then, is finding ways to expand the use of nuclear power, making its benefits available to a wider group of nations and people, while simultaneously maintaining and improving the international nonproliferation regime. Let me tell you how our Administration is addressing these twin challenges. The first involves expanding the use of safe, secure nuclear energy in the United States. We are doing this not only to meet our own rising electricity needs, but also because developing the next generation of nuclear technology will help us share the benefits of nuclear power with the rest of the world. To that end, we are pursuing a variety of initiatives to help boost the prospects for the revival of nuclear construction in America. I think all of you know that no new nuclear power plants have been built in the U.S. in decades. This fact has many causes, including regulatory barriers, as well as public opposition which has often been based on misguided or outdated assumptions. But there do seem to be signs that the tight energy markets causing high prices, as well concerns about greenhouse gases, are leading many people to reappraise the benefits of nuclear power. So, working with Congress, we were able to ensure that the landmark energy policy legislation President Bush signed in August contains several provisions to facilitate nuclear energy's resurgence. Among them is a measure establishing federal insurance to protect new reactor projects from foundering due to regulatory and legal delays. Other key provisions, such as Nuclear Power 2010, a cost shared partnership between industry and government, will demonstrate streamlined regulatory processes, leading the way for industry to field new advanced light water reactors by the end of this decade. The law also provides production tax credits for electricity produced by new nuclear power plants, as well as loan guarantees for innovative nuclear energy technologies. In addition, our Administration is committed to successfully establishing Yucca Mountain as the nation's permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel. Solving the problem of how to store spent fuel will reap tremendous benefits for America's future and will greatly facilitate the expansion of nuclear power. We are also working with nearly a dozen international partners, including, of course, Japan - through the Generation IV International Forum to accelerate development of advanced nuclear energy systems - systems that offer further improvements in efficiency, sustainability, safety, and, most importantly, proliferation resistance. This goal of preventing the spread of nuclear technology and materials is the other half of our approach. To achieve an effective non-proliferation regime, we must recognize the special responsibility of nations already possessing the complete fuel cycle. So in an address last year at the National Defense University, President Bush issued a bold challenge to the world's nuclear supplier states. He called on them to commit to assuring the benefits of nuclear energy to those states willing to forego enrichment and reprocessing capabilities. And he called on them to refuse to sell enrichment and reprocessing equipment and technologies to any state that does not already possess full-scale, functioning enrichment and reprocessing plants. The President proposed this initiative with the aim of closing the loophole in the Nonproliferation Treaty that had been exploited by North Korea and Iran, while ensuring the continued expansion of nuclear power around the globe. As President Bush noted in his remarks, enrichment and reprocessing capabilities simply aren't necessary for nations seeking nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Since the President made this proposal 21 months ago, we have engaged with other suppliers and the IAEA on ways to assure fuel services to those reactor states that swear off enrichment and reprocessing. It is not enough to promise reliable access at reasonable cost to fuel for civilian reactors. A promise amounts to little without the means to carry it out. So while the current commercial market is able to satisfy the demand for fuel services, we need to provide for a back-up or "safety net" mechanism that could provide reliable access to nuclear fuel in the event of possible future disruptions in market supply. To that end, the United States has been working with the IAEA and the major fuel suppliers to put in place a mechanism that would allow the IAEA to assist states in identifying alternative suppliers who could meet their needs in the event of such disruptions. We must also be ready to engage with our international partners in defining the incentives that will drive this relationship. Clearly, one area of cooperation is in disposition technologies for high-level waste and spent fuel. And we should not close the door on the possibility of establishing international spent fuel storage facilities and repositories. This will require taking a hard look at future technologies for spent fuel recycling. The Department of Energy is pursuing an Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative to achieve a sensible long-term approach for dealing with spent nuclear fuel. It is important to emphasize that in addressing future recycling technologies, our research and development is guided by the overarching goal of no separated plutonium. As Secretary Bodman said last month, "the pursuit of recycling technologies that do not produce separated plutonium must be considered not just a worthwhile, but a necessary, goal." I know that Japan too has an interest in advancing this type of technology and I see this as an area of future cooperation between out countries. In fact, let me take this opportunity to point out that if all nations demonstrated the kind of commitment to responsible non-proliferation practices that we are seeing from Japan, the world would be a much safer place. Ladies and gentlemen, the prospects for nuclear energy today are more promising today than at any time since its development. The technical advances and safety improvements, and the need to have a major emission-free source as a key part of our energy mix, have set the stage for renewed growth of the commercial nuclear industry. And I believe that nuclear power is poised to take its place as the provider of a significant and steady percentage of America's electricity. But to reach that future we need to take concerted action today. And we need to enhance communication and cooperation between the leading nuclear technology nations, such as the United States and Japan. So I congratulate you for holding this important conference, which I think is helping to set the stage for a new age of clean, safe, and affordable nuclear power that will benefit the whole world. Thank you for your attention, and for the invitation to share my thoughts with you this morning. (end text) (Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.) News Provided By |
