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Michael Kanellos | December 31, 2008 at 9:11 AM 5 Comments

French Company Seeks Permit for Uranium Enrichment in U.S.

Areva Enrichment Services has applied to build a $2 billion uranium enrichment plant in Idaho as interest in nuclear in the U.S. grows.

The plant, expected to be open in 2014 if approved, will produce three separative work units (SWU) a year, according to Reuters. An SWU measures how much energy a reactor expends in enriching uranium. In all, the 104 commercial nuclear reactors in the U.S. need about 13 to 14 SWUs a year. (There are 103 nuclear reactors in the military as well.)

Two other enrichment plants in the U.S. are in the planning stages as well. Collectively, these three new plants could produce 15 SWUs a year by 2015. Right now, there is only one enrichment plant operating in the U.S.

While these plants could conceivably cover the nuclear needs for the U.S., the interest in building more plants is growing. The NRC expects to get 34 applications for new plants by 2010.

Global warming and fears about energy security have been reviving interest in nuclear technology in the U.S. for the past few years. Nuclear plants do not emit carbon dioxide or greenhouse gases, which proponents say make them cleaner than coal plants. Nuclear can also provide baseline power and isn’t subject to the vagaries of the weather. Nuclear plants are also cost effective and can create jobs, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. (I did an interview with the head of the NEI, retired Navy Admiral Frank Bowman last year. He’s interesting. Check it out here. ) Environmentalists such as Patrick Morris have also become nuclear advocates.

Some new companies such as Hyperion Power Generation and General Fusion are promoting nuclear facilities which they say curb some of the risks and dangers of nuclear.

Problems with disposal, proliferation and accidents remain, so opposition remains high. Thus, this is a debate that will go on for some time, but it won’t go away.

Areva, by the way, is primarily owned by the French government. France, Europe’s biggest backer of nuclear, actually exports power to some neighboring nations.

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Comments [5]

  • Richard Slaten 01/2/09 1:11 PM

    Michael, You should not write about things you do not understand. SWU relates to the enrichment process. Louisiana Enrichment services wil produce ~2.5 million SWUs a year in Eunice, NM.

     Reply
  • Rod Adams 01/1/09 1:26 AM

    I think you need to take another look at your original source. You left out a rather key word in your description of the plant capacity - it will NOT ” produce three separative work units (SWU) a year, according to Reuters”. That would be a tiny amount of enrichment.

    I followed the link and found the real description of plant capacity from Reuter’s article “Areva’s Idaho plant will be capable of producing 3 MILLION (emphasis added) SWU a year, said company spokesman Jarret Adams.”

    It is also important for people to realize that much of the opposition to nuclear power is motivated by greed, not by fear. Nuclear fission, unlike wind, solar, geothermal, and ocean wave energy has demonstrated that it can take market share from fossil fuel. That is admittedly scary for fossil fuel producers, but it is not something to fear for all of the rest of us.

     Reply
  • john v 12/31/08 11:26 AM

    This country has the technology to do this, I support nuclear energy fully but, we need to stop brining in foreign interest to this country, we are selling this country off at alarming rates to foreign contries.  Before long we will be at the mercy of foreign control just like we are for our fuel resources.  We will be driven to our knees when foreign contries see fit and it is comiing!!!  Areava even though does alot of business in this country is still French, Why does it take a foreign company to do what we need to be doing?

     Reply
  • TV 01/1/09 7:10 AM

    More interest should be shown toward the non proliferative capabilities of thorium.

     Reply
  • Slim Jim 01/1/09 8:11 AM

    I agree allowing the French government to do uranium enrichment in this country is obsene.  When will this country wake up.  The French Government are takers.  They took our help to liberate them from German Rule yet support us seldom when we need it.  They have decimated their part of the world with their nuclear falacy including polluting the Atlantic all the way to the artic ocean with radiactive waste in opposition to 10 of 12 countries effected by the pollution.  The French are poisening their own people and now we intend to allow them to do the same to U.S. Citizens in this country. 
      If we put the same 2 billion dollars toward reasonable conservation and effeciency efforts it will pay off much bigger dividents to all the people rather than the French government, and there will be no long term pollution with which the people of the U.S. and specifically Idaho will have to live with. 

    Wake up people.  The only people not motivated by greed are the opposition to this plant.  Everyone else sees a buck in their pocket.  It works the same for prostitutes.

     Reply

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