[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 159 (Thursday, October 29, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10926-S10927]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. UDALL of Colorado (for himself, Mr. Bingaman, and Ms. 
        Murkowski):
  S. 2052. A bill to amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to require the 
Secretary of Energy to carry out a research and development and 
demonstration program to reduce manufacturing and construction costs 
relating to nuclear reactors, and for other purposes; to the Committee 
on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. President, I rise to speak about the role 
nuclear energy can play in moving our country toward a more secure 
energy future. For some, news that a Udall is speaking favorably about 
nuclear power will come as a stark and perhaps unpleasant surprise. But 
I also believe public and expert opinion on the risks and benefits of 
nuclear power has changed.
  The environmental and energy security challenges that we faced in the 
1970s, when that decade closed in the shadow of Three Mile Island, have 
changed significantly. When my father Mo Udall campaigned for President 
in the New Hampshire primary in 1976--and the Presiding Officer 
remembers that era--and when he was asked about the controversial 
Seabrook nuclear facility, no one had climate change on their list of 
environmental concerns.
  Today, more than 30 years on, we have a less parochial and more 
global view about the challenges of energy security, climate change, 
and the problems associated with carbon-based energy production.
  Given the economic, national security, and environmental threats our 
current energy system creates, we need a comprehensive and cleaner 
national energy policy. In this regard, clearly, nuclear energy has 
emerged as an important player in our search for a stable and domestic 
energy source that has less greenhouse gas emissions.
  A cleaner energy economy will spur innovation in and accelerate the 
shift to clean and domestic energy sources. It will create a new 
industrial sector, employing millions of Americans in the research, 
development, manufacturing, sale, installation and servicing of new 
energy technologies. And it will help reduce our dependence on foreign 
oil from unstable regions of the world.
  Moreover, like it or not, we must address the climate challenge we 
face. My State of Colorado is already seeing the indirect impacts of 
carbon pollution in the form of a devastating bark beetle infestation 
that is killing our forests.
  Looking beyond environmental concerns and as we face perhaps our 
greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, we also need an 
``all of the above'' solution to jump-start our economy. That means 
continuing our development of renewable energy sources such as wind, 
solar, and biomass, as well as traditional energy resources like coal 
and oil, and cleaner fuels like natural gas.
  That also means we should continue to invest in energy efficiency and 
conservation technology. And that means that nuclear energy and new 
nuclear power plants must be a part of the mix.
  As I said earlier, a growing number of skeptics and even opponents of 
nuclear power are taking a second look at this industry. I count myself 
among them, and these are some of the reasons why:
  First, in the last few decades, the performance and safety record of 
nuclear plant operations in the United States has greatly improved. 
Safety is and always must be the No. 1 priority at nuclear facilities. 
There is always more we can do on safety, but the industry has built a 
good record and we should recognize that fact.
  Then there are the environmental benefits to nuclear power. Unlike 
fossil fuel plants, nuclear plants do not emit appreciable amounts of 
sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury or particulate matter. That 
means they cause less acid rain, as well as fewer asthma complications 
and other health ailments.
  Further, nuclear plants release minimal amounts of carbon pollution. 
In fact, nuclear power plants are one of the few low-carbon, large-
scale sources of baseload power that we know how to build today.
  Let me note that carbon-capture and storage technologies at coal and 
natural gas plants could also potentially provide low-carbon baseload 
power at large scales too. And it is very important that we build these 
first commercial CCS plants and do all we can to develop economically 
viable carbon-capture and sequestration technologies.
  I have long been a supporter of renewable energy and energy 
efficiency, and I will continue to be. But the scale of the energy 
changes we must make dictates that we be open to the widest variety of 
energy options, particularly those with domestic potential and those 
with cleaner emissions. In other words, there is no silver bullet that 
will solve all of our energy challenges; we are going to need, in the 
parlance of the West, silver buckshot. Examining all the pros and cons, 
I have come to the view that nuclear energy is a part of that silver 
buckshot.
  I know there are many who remain skeptical of nuclear power, 
including good friends of mine. Nuclear power is not trouble-free. No 
energy source is. I hope we can all agree, however, on our clean energy 
goals: more jobs, greater energy security, and a cleaner environment 
for our children.
  Supporters and opponents of nuclear power share another concern in 
common. Neither knows for sure how much new nuclear plants are going to 
cost. We have a new licensing process that has never been tested. We 
have not ordered a new nuclear plant in three decades. Many nuclear 
technology components, for at least the first wave of nuclear plants, 
will likely be manufactured in other countries, and the future cost of 
construction materials is unknown. These uncertainties, along with 
others, led the National Academy of Sciences to estimate that 
electricity from new nuclear plants would likely cost in the range of 8 
to 13 cents per kilowatt hour, which is a considerable span. Given the 
large potential of nuclear energy, however, we need to build new 
nuclear plants over the next decade.
  This first wave of new plants will go a long way toward telling us 
whether new plants can be built on budget and on schedule in the United 
States. I hope the answers are yes and yes, and that the final cost of 
electricity is at the lower end of the uncertainty range. I say this 
because if nuclear energy is to survive as a viable option, it will 
need to compete against other low-carbon technologies in the long run.
  Some may object to the building of new nuclear plants before we have 
a long-term solution to the question of what to do with nuclear waste. 
It is true we do not have a permanent solution right now. It is also 
true that the answers about the viability, both environmental and 
political, of Yucca Mountain as a permanent waste facility continue to 
elude us. I fully acknowledge that as a Member of the House of 
Representatives, I shared these concerns and voted accordingly. But 
uncertainty about a long-term and permanent solution to waste storage 
is not a reason to halt nuclear power. I am confident that we have the 
technical capabilities and knowledge to safely and responsibly store 
nuclear waste for the required time periods. This is not a technology 
problem. It is a challenge to find a fair and safe path forward, and I 
support the President's intention to appoint a blue ribbon commission 
to make such a recommendation.
  In the meantime, dry cask storage provides a safe, proven option for 
at least 100 years. We have time to get this right, so let us not rush 
into anything out of a false sense of emergency.
  Let me turn to another subject tied to nuclear power production, and 
that

[[Page S10927]]

is reprocessing. It has been suggested that we should build commercial 
scale facilities in the United States to reprocess our spent fuel as 
France and Japan do. I do not believe that makes sense. Why? First, the 
French system of reprocessing is not a comprehensive waste management 
strategy, and so far the benefits from that approach have been fairly 
marginal. In other words, they have not solved their waste challenge 
with reprocessing. Secondly, we do not need to recycle spent nuclear 
fuel to enable the expansion of nuclear power in the United States and 
elsewhere. Uranium supplies are sufficient to support a worldwide 
expansion of nuclear power during this next century. Third, the 
international proliferation risk associated with reprocessing is a 
concern. The process used in France creates separated plutonium which 
could be diverted for weapons production. I do not want to see 
separated plutonium in any country but especially in those that are 
unfriendly to us. And we are in a weaker position to try and dissuade 
those countries from reprocessing if we are doing it ourselves.
  My conclusion is that a near-term decision to deploy reprocessing 
facilities would be unwise and unnecessary. I do support research into 
advanced proliferation-resistant technologies, though none of those 
will be ready for deployment anytime in the near future. In general, 
our goal should be to keep nuclear power as low-cost and proliferation-
resistant as possible.
  To that end, today I am introducing a bipartisan bill, the Nuclear 
Energy Research Initiative Improvement Act of 2009. This bill, which is 
cosponsored by Chairman Bingaman and Ranking Member Murkowski, 
authorizes the U.S. Department of Energy to conduct research into 
modular and small-scale reactors, enhanced proliferation controls, and 
cost-efficient manufacturing.
  We are going to be debating clean energy later this Congress. I know 
several of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle would like to see a 
strong nuclear title. I hope we can come to a reasonable compromise 
that advances nuclear power and allows us to finally put a price on 
carbon pollution. That will give the energy sector the certainty it 
needs to begin planning and building our clean energy future and to 
begin creating clean energy jobs.
  Nuclear plants to date provide jobs for thousands of Americans, and 
new plants would provide thousands more. New plants would also generate 
millions in tax revenues for State, local, and Federal governments 
struggling with large deficits from the economic downturn. Nuclear 
power's energy security and environmental benefits have earned this 
industry an important place at the table. It is my hope we can build 
some nuclear plants over the next decade to create jobs and build a 
cleaner, more secure tomorrow.
  I invite all of my colleagues, from both sides of the aisle, to join 
Senator Bingaman, Senator Murkowski, and me in cosponsoring the Nuclear 
Energy Research Initiative Improvement Act of 2009.
  One of my energy fellows, Matt Bowen, is leaving my office to join 
the Department of Energy. I thank Matt for his work in my office, 
including on the bill I am introducing today, and I wish him well at 
the Department of Energy. We have been well served as a country by Matt 
Bowen's patriotism and work ethic.
                                 ______