Nuclear power loses ground
Cheaper gas is spelling the end for ageing plants, writes David Millward
For decades, Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania was synonymous with the worst nuclear accident in US history, when a partial meltdown and radiation leak in March 1979 forced 100,000 people to flee for safety.
Last month the plant ceased operating. Its demise was due to oldfashioned market forces, rather than the environmental lobby. Three Mile Island was killed by accountants.
At the beginning of the month, Exelon laid off 112 of the 500 workers left. By the end of 2022 the plant, which once employed 675 people, will be left with a skeleton staff of 56.
Nuclear power, which for decades was the largest producer of electricity in Pennsylvania, had become too expensive following the discovery of a shale deposit beneath most of the state. Abundant coal and natural gas meant the sums did not add up.
A similar story is being played out across the US. “Nuclear units are shutting, or at risk of shutting down across the country, and there are numerous obstacles to constructing new ones,” says Kristoff Nelson at the Boston-based investment firm IR+M. “Nuclear power is challenged to compete with natural gas plants due to cheap gas; meanwhile wind and solar power are gaining traction with consumers and utilities.”
According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, which represents the industry, its members are responsible for generating 19.3 per cent of all electricity in the US and 55.5 per cent of lowcarbon electricity. There are still 96 nuclear reactors in the US. But eight more are scheduled to go by 2025 in addition to the nine which have disappeared over the past six years.
Some states have moved in to rescue nuclear plants, levelling the playing field with other zero-carbon technology like wind and solar. But a US$500 million package for Three Mile Island was voted down.
US nuclear power stations depend on imported uranium, which supplies 92 per cent of the industry’s needs. The two major US companies, Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy, have been pushing for a limit on imports, urging Washington to guarantee domestic suppliers 25 per cent of the market.
Canada accounts for 26 per cent of US uranium imports, followed by Kazakhstan with 22 per cent, Australia with 20 per cent and Russia with 15 per cent. Just to add to US anxiety, Rosatom, the Russian stateowned nuclear company, controls about half of Kazakhstan’s uranium production.
Foreign competitors are suspected of dumping cheap uranium on the US market, to the fury of Republican senators such as John Barrasso.
“We shouldn’t rely on foreign regimes to supply America with uranium,” he says. “Ensuring our nation’s uranium producers can compete on a level playing field is critical to our national and energy security.”
Mark Chalmers, chief executive of Energy Fuels, has little doubt that the Kremlin is making the most of the situation.
“It is fairly clear that Russia is seeking to utilise state-owned nuclear entities to extend their geopolitical influence around the world and marginalise the US and the West. Russia is building and seeking to build nuclear plants for nations all over the world and they are providing the nuclear fuel for those plants.
“They are also using their nuclear industry to increase their leverage over the US through nuclear fuel imports.”
President Donald Trump appears to have some sympathy with this view, and in April he ordered an investigation into the threat to national security posed by the heavy dependence on imported uranium.
Nima Ashkeboussi at the Nuclear Energy Institute believes the problem is primarily political. “If market conditions change and the price of uranium goes up, then US production becomes economically viable and the security problem solves itself.”
There is bipartisan support in Washington for the nuclear industry, which is seen as clean and carbonfree. Senators have united around a measure called the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act. While it will do little for ageing nuclear plants, which are past their sell-by dates, it will support the next generation of power stations.
“We once led the world in nuclear energy, but have surrendered that position to Russia and China,” says Alaska’s Republican Senator, Lisa Murkowski. “It is imperative that we reverse that trend and develop advanced nuclear technologies domestically.”