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Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

Carbon Free Nuclear Energy - By Laurence F. Sanford

Monday, April 11, 2022

Categories: ASCF News ASCF Articles

Comments: 0

James Marvin Phelps/flickr, CC BY-NC

By ASCF Senior Analyst Laurence F. Sanford

Carbon free nuclear energy is an essential component of America’s energy security and clean energy program of reducing carbon emissions in order to reduce global warming.

Energy Source % Total US Electricity % Carbon Free
Nuclear 20 50
Wind/Solar 10 25
Hydro dams/Geothermal 10 25
Fossil fuels 60 0
Total 100 100

Fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) power 60% of the electricity produced in America emitting 5,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide. Nuclear energy produces 20% of the electricity and emits 0 tons of carbon dioxide.

Ninety-three nuclear reactors in fifty-six plants are located in twenty-eight states.The average age of the reactors is thirty-nine years. Currently, there are only two nuclear reactors under construction in America in Vogtle, Georgia. Twenty-three reactors are shut down or are in various stages of decommissioning. Illinois (9), Pennsylvania (8) and South Carolina (7) lead the nation in number of nuclear reactors.

Carbon Free Nuclear Energy Advantages:

The Biden Administration is cautiously embracing nuclear energy to meet its green goals. The administration’s climate advisor, Gina McCarthy, states nuclear power reactors are “absolutely essential” in meeting Biden’s climate projections of a net-zero carbon economy. Congress passed an infrastructure bill which devotes $8.5 billion to fund advanced nuclear reactor development, funding of small modular reactors (SMR’s), and financially compromised existing nuclear plants.

The most reliable of all energy sources is nuclear energy. It is available 24/7/365 and does not depend upon sunshine, wind, water levels or fossil fuels. The wind does not always blow and the sun does not shine at night. Maintenance and downtimes are minimal with nuclear energy. A small quantity of uranium powers nuclear energy. Uranium is a plentiful mineral throughout the world and the U.S. It is easily and securely transported.

A solar panel farm kills thousands of birds, requires 450 times the land area of a nuclear power plant and is effective only when the sun shines. Wind farms also require large tracts of land, kill thousands of birds and provide intermittent power. Battery storage technology for renewable energy is not capable of providing sufficient and sustainable electricity to meet society’s needs.The primary source for solar panels and windmill blades is China.

Small Modular Reactors (SMR’s) are safer and less costly than large conventional nuclear fission reactors. They are designed and manufactured in modules at a plant and transported to a site. This reduces cost and speeds up construction time.

Nuclear fission reactors power all nuclear plants today. Fission occurs when one atom is split into two resulting in the release of energy. Future nuclear reactors will be powered by fusion which combines and fuses two atoms into one atom releasing energy and leaving little radioactive waste. At present there are no working fusion reactors because of the inability to control the process. Advanced computer models and other technologies will soon make a laboratory model into an industrial size reactor.

Nuclear energy offers over 150,000 steady, high paying jobs and is a significant source of local tax revenue. Technological spin offs enrich America’s industrial base and improve daily living. By reducing air pollution, nuclear energy saves millions of lives. Nuclear radiation fights cancer and sterilizes medical instruments and food packaging.

The safest of all energy sources, there have been no known deaths from nuclear accidents in the United States. The Navy has utilized nuclear power since the launch of the submarine USS Nautilus in 1954. Currently the entire U.S. submarine and aircraft carrier fleet are powered by nuclear energy. Sixty-five year later, there have been no safety or health issues raised by the Navy’s nuclear energy use.

Nuclear Power Disadvantages:

Radioactive waste - All the nuclear waste ever produced in the U.S. can fit on a single football field in 50 foot high solid stack containers. Coal plants generate the same amount of waste every hour and its disposal/storage is a serious environmental issue. Natural gas methane flaring and mining of rare earth metals for solar panels and windmills are also serious environmental issues.

Fear is a powerful emotion. A phobia is an unreasonable fear of something or a situation. Nuclear energy and the resulting waste should be feared but not unreasonably. Fear of nuclear energy in a military weapon is a reasonable and justified fear. But fear of nuclear energy in producing electricity is unreasonable or “nuclearphobia”.

Environmental, green and progressive organizations, with annual budgets of over one billion dollars, promote green energy and oppose nuclear energy. Excessive lawsuits and regulations discourage nuclear energy development. The risks of nuclear energy are greatly exaggerated and the risks of renewable energy are minimized or not even mentioned. A significant portion of that billion dollars, in conjunction with an active membership, has a significant impact on public perception and political action.

Summary

Nuclear energy is the safest, cleanest, and most reliable of all energy sources. For a carbon free future and a growing industrial civilization, nuclear energy is an absolute necessity. Currently eighty-five percent of the world’s energy is provided by fossil fuels. It is impossible for wind and solar power in the near future to totally replace nuclear and/or fossil fuels. An intelligent combination of energy conservation, renewable energies for local low intensity applications, and nuclear energy for large scale electricity production, are the only viable methods to meet future civilization energy needs.

Laurence F. Sanford
Senior Analyst
American Security Council Foundation
www.ascf.us
lsanford@ascf.us

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