Nuclear power plant

“ What needs our particular attention is the fact that peaceful use of nuclear energy without possession of nuclear fuel cycle is an empty proposition. Nuclear power plants can indeed lead to total dependence of countries and peoples if they need to rely for their fuel on coercive powers, who do not refrain from any measure in furtherance of their interests. ”

“ The accomplishments of nuclear power in the propulsion of ships have already been noted. In addition, there is now going on in industrialized countries in different parts of the world a large-scale development of nuclear power plants for production of electricity. ”

“ The U. S. is not alone in its use of nuclear energy as a tool of science. The United Kingdom has carried out radiological studies of the marine environment for many years, particularly concentrating on the effects of radionuclides from nuclear power plants on the sea immediately contiguous to the British Isles. Both the European Atomic Energy Community and the International Atomic Energy Agency also encouraged marine radiological studies. ”

“ In politics the atomic nucleus has entered as a promise and as a menace—not as a fact on which we can build and with which we can reckon.
Some technical predictions seem safe:
Nuclear energy will not render our older power plants obsolete in the near future. But nuclear energy will make it 169 possible to maintain the pace—even the acceleration—of the industrial revolution. It will be possible to produce all the energy we need at a moderate cost. Furthermore—and this is the important point—this energy will be available at any place on the globe at a cost which is fairly uniform. ”

“ Nuclear electric power is approaching the point where it will be economically competitive with power from hydroelectric plants or those burning coal, oil, or gas as fuels. Improvements in nuclear power technology are rapidly being made, and it is now widely predicted that before the end of this century most new electric power plants will be nuclear. ”

“ While we are focusing with justified concern on Iran and North Korea’s quest for nuclear weapons capacity, a number of nations, some of them our good friends, are planning to go into the enrichment and/or reprocessing business, and that conversion means making material for nuclear power. But when you start enriching, it’s very difficult to tell when you move from a nuclear power level of enrichment, which I believe is about four percent, to a 70 to 75 percent enrichment, which can blow up a lot of the world. ”

“ It ensures simultaneous design, construction and launching of environmental protection facilities at new, expansion and rebuilding projects, intensifies safe management of nuclear power projects, reinforces supervision and management of the safety and radiation environment of nuclear power plants, research reactors and fuel cycle facilities in operation, and practices meticulous safety examination and supervision of nuclear power facilities under construction. ”

“ Can we avoid catastrophic nuclear terrorism and nuclear use if our world keeps producing weapons-grade, fissile material and fails to secure or get rid of the supply of such material already in existence? A fundamental question. You already know my answer, but I think it’s a beginning point.
Number two: Can the nuclear power industry around the globe expand if we have a serious nuclear incident or catastrophe in the nuclear weapons arena? ”

“ As energy needs rise, as oil and gas prices surge, and production shifts more each year to more volatile and less secure areas of the world and as the pace of global warming increases, nations and the private sector are looking more and more to nuclear power to meet those needs. ”

“ And we should build a new framework for civil nuclear cooperation, including an international fuel bank, so that countries can access peaceful power without increasing the risks of proliferation. That must be the right of every nation that renounces nuclear weapons, especially developing countries embarking on peaceful programs. And no approach will succeed if it's based on the denial of rights to nations that play by the rules. We must harness the power of nuclear energy on behalf of our efforts to combat climate change and to advance peace opportunity for all people. ”

“ We must find new and better answers to the imperative of the nuclear age: how to maximize the benefit of nuclear power, which I believe in, but at the same time minimize the proliferation dangers. That is a dual challenge. ”

“ Work with other interested governments to establish a new international nuclear energy architecture -- including an international nuclear fuel bank, international nuclear fuel cycle centers, and reliable fuel supply assurances -- to meet growing demands for nuclear power without contributing to proliferation. Set the Goal of a Nuclear-Free World: Show the world that America believes in its existing commitment under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to work to ultimately eliminate all nuclear weapons. America will not disarm unilaterally. ”

“ The industrial policy of actively exploiting nuclear energy has been formulated and issued, which has effectively secured the growth of the industries of nuclear power, nuclear fuel recycling, and nuclear technology application. ”

“ And so we're working with other nations, like Japan and France and Great Britain and Russia and China, to form this energy partnership, the purpose of which is to help developing nations secure cost-effective and proliferation-resistant nuclear power, and at the same time to conduct joint research on how to deal with the nuclear waste issue, through positive, productive reprocessing. ”

“ A reactor has been donated by the United States Atomic Energy Commission. With the establishment of this center, we will engage in the production of radioisotopes for the use of agriculture, industry, and medicine. This is a land mark in our scientific progress, as it opens up for our youth the vast field of nuclear science and ultimately harnesses the mightiest industrial power known to man to cancel human poverty from our land. I submit that no project more deserving of full support by Congress than the nuclear center. ”

“ And the very fact that one out of five homes in America can't turn on their lights without nuclear power is a reminder of how our nation does use nuclear power. In France, for example, 80 percent of electricity comes from nuclear power. So the President understands that technology, safety, modernization, means that nuclear power can be an environmentally friendly and safe part of America's energy mix. ”

“ Nuclear power generates large amounts of low-cost electricity without emitting air pollution or greenhouse gases. Yet nuclear power now produces only about 20 percent of America's electricity. It has the potential to play an even greater role. ”

“ We will also ensure that these developing nations have a reliable nuclear fuel supply. In exchange, these countries would agree to use nuclear power only for civilian purposes and forego uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities that can be used to develop nuclear weapons. ”

“ We've been compelled, because of the lack of natural fuel on Ullr, to set up nuclear power reactors and furnish large quantities of plutonium to the geeks to fuel them. The Company doesn't want the natives here learning of the possibility of using nuclear energy for destructive purposes. Well, gentlemen, that's a dead issue. They've learned it, thanks to our people on Niflheim, and unless my estimate is entirely wrong, King Orgzild already has at least one First-Century Nagasaki-type plutonium bomb. ”

“ I believe developing nations ought to be encouraged to use nuclear power. I believe it's in our interests, I believe it will help take pressure off the price of oil, and I know it's going to help protect the environment. ”

“ There have been a series of impediments that have been put in the path of nuclear power which now seem to be changing. And nuclear power provides 20 percent of the electricity for homes in this country. ”

“ And the truth of the matter is, you've got to be -- have a growing economy to be able to afford these technologies in the first place. So here are some ways that we're dealing with the issue of electricity. One, I strongly believe the United States must promote nuclear power here in the United States. ”

“ The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, one of the most important tools for preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, is undermined by a loophole that allows countries to seek nuclear weapons under the cover of civilian nuclear power programs. I propose that the world's leading nuclear exporters close that loophole. The Nuclear Suppliers Group should refuse to sell enrichment and reprocessing equipment and technologies to any state that does not already possess full scale, functioning enrichment and reprocessing plants. ”

“ It recognizes further that the nuclear defense of the West is not a matter for the present nuclear powers alone—that France will be such a power in the future—and that ways must be found without increasing the hazards of nuclear diffusion, to increase the role of our other partners in planning, manning, and directing a truly multilateral nuclear force within an increasingly intimate NATO alliance. ”

“ Negotiate and implement a Euratom/Iran nuclear cooperation agreement. Light water reactors Actively support the building of new light water power reactors in Iran through international joint projects, in accordance with the IAEA statute and NPT, using state-of-the-art technology, including by authorizing the transfer of necessary goods and the provision of advanced technology to make its power reactors safe against earthquakes. Provide cooperation with the management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste through appropriate arrangements. ”

“ Power sources in the megawatt range would be necessary for efficient, long-duration deep space propulsion. Affordable, lightweight nuclear power sources in space would enable new opportunities for scientific discovery. ”

“ And as nuclear power--as a nuclear power, as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act. ”

“ As more nations seek nuclear energy, concerns have been raised about the nuclear fuel cycle. The report of the UN High Level Panel on Threats said that, “... the proliferation risks from the enrichment of uranium and from the reprocessing of spent fuel are great and increasing.”
As more nations seek nuclear energy to meet their development needs, more nations will weigh available options to determine what for them will be the most secure, and most economical way to ensure a reliable supply of nuclear fuel. ”

“ We are unequivocally in favour of strengthening the regime of non-proliferation. The present international legal principles allow us to develop technologies to manufacture nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes. And many countries with all good reasons want to create their own nuclear energy as a basis for their energy independence. But we also understand that these technologies can be quickly transformed into nuclear weapons. ”

“ In western Europe and North America, which today have almost 75 per cent of current world capacity, nuclear provides about one-third of the energy that was forecast for it 10 years ago. Apart from Fance, Japan, the USSR, and several other East European countries that have decided to continue with their nuclear programmes, ordering, construction, and licensing prospects for new reactors in many other countries look poor. ”

“ And now, after almost four decades of immense technological effort to support nuclear development, nuclear energy has become widely used. Some 30 governments produce from nuclear generators a total of about 15 per cent of all the electricity used globally. Yet it has not met earlier expectations that it would be the key to ensuring an unlimited supply of low-cost energy. ”

“ Only a few, relatively rare, naturally occurring substances -- primarily Uranium-235 -- can maintain the nuclear fission chain reaction necessary for operation of these [p1083] reactors. There are thus severe constraints on the long run potential of nuclear energy for generating electricity unless new nuclear fuel is "artificially" produced. ”

“ Plans for other nuclear-powered desalting projects around the world are being discussed by the United States government, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the governments of many other nations. ”

“ If our decisions and our actions are too slow, can we live with the consequences? Are we prepared to live in a world where dozens of countries have the capability and key ingredients to make nuclear weapons? In such a world, I believe that the dangers we already have today would be greatly multiplied, and there would be a much higher probability that nuclear weapons will be used somewhere in the world. ”

“ The Bush administration has worked with other nations on the Proliferation Security Initiative, which coordinates national capabilities to interdict the transport of nuclear, biological and chemical materials, their delivery systems and related technology. We at our foundation and most nuclear experts agree that securing nuclear material at the source is the most important feature, and you have to have cooperation around the globe for that. Securing material at the source is the least expensive and most efficient. ”

“ And so, whilst some states still remain nuclear-free, today nuclear reactors supply about 15 per cent of all the electricity generated. Total electricity production worldwide is in turn equivalent to around 15 per cent of global primary energy supply. Roughly one-quarter of all countries worldwide have reactors. ”

“ But, of course, all this does not mean that the machine will do its job free of charge. Even a perpetual motion machine would need servicing and maintenance. Unfortunately our nuclear machines need a lot of such servicing and therefore for the time being, nuclear energy is not the cheapest. ”