Nuclear Energy - Beyond Smoke and Mirrors - page 227

Technical Note . : (cont.)

NuScale Power in Oregon, are developing reactors in the

MWe class. Others are showing interest as well.
The hope is that these will be small enough to be entirely
fabricated at a central factory and delivered complete to the
site, thus greatly reducing costs.
There are two good websites with information on all topics
related to nuclear energy. They are those of the World
Nuclear Association ( www.world-nuclear.org ) andtheNuclear
Energy Agency ( www.nea.fr ) . The NEA has a particularly
good general overview called

to

“ Nuclear Energy Today. ”

Technical Note . : France s Long-Range Nuclear

Development Plan

'

France has what I see as the world s most well-thought-out and

coherent long-range planning that lays out where they see their
nuclear program heading over the next

'

years. Their vision is
built around a future that includes secure disposal of nuclear
waste, advanced reactor development, and considerations of
possible fuel shortages in the future. I look at it as a kind of

-year-long superhighway with various on- and off-ramps that
allow

flexibility to handle changing technical options.
The highway was begun in the s with the assumption

that nuclear power will remain the mainstay of France

s elec-
trical generating system for the long term. In addition, they
see nuclear power as having other potential applications that
may expand nuclear power demand even faster than would
occur from growth in the electrical system alone (process
heat, hydrogen production, desalinization, etc.). Also, they
assume a world nuclear power expansion, greatly increasing
the demand for new reactors and reactor fuels. Today

'

' s

This section is based on an article of mine

first published in a
different form in Newsweek International, July - , .