TPT May 2015

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68 May 2015
Global Marketplace
Energy
The ‘shale gas revolution’ is
dimming revival prospects for
the nuclear power industry in the
United States
Not much notice has been taken of the dampening effect
that the cheaper natural gas made possible by the fracking
method is having on American nuclear power companies. But
industry experts consulted by the Detroit Free Press say that
today’s low natural gas prices, together with slower growth in
demand for electricity and recent expansions in renewable
energy generation, make it less appealing to build new
nuclear plants – or even to keep older plants running if they
need expensive repairs.
Free Press business desk reporter JC Reindl recently
presented a case in point: Fermi 3, Michigan’s first new
nuclear power reactor in more than a quarter of a century,
now close to gaining a combined construction and operating
licence from federal regulators. But according to Mr Reindl
it is an open question whether the plant will ever be built.
(“Cheaper Natural Gas Prices Could Shelve Plans for Fermi
3,” 23 February)
Fermi 3 would neighbour DTE Energy’s currently operating
Fermi 2 nuclear plant on Lake Erie about 30 miles south
of Detroit. It also adjoins the former site of Fermi 1, an
old experimental reactor which experienced an emergency
shutdown in 1966. DTE has been seeking permission for
Fermi 3 since September 2008.
Local anti-nuclear groups fervently opposed to Fermi 3 would
like to see the $10 billion estimated cost of the project go
instead toward wind turbines, solar panels and other low-
carbon energy systems. But it is the fading financial allure of
nuclear power that will deliver even short-term victory to the
opposition.
As noted by Mr Reindl, financial reasons were cited in the
shutdown ahead of schedule of four nuclear power plants – in
California, Florida, Vermont and Wisconsin – over the past
two years. He wrote, “Back when DTE proposed its new Fermi
reactor, the energy market had not yet been reshaped by the
shale gas revolution.”
› Michiganders, like Americans in general, are using less
electricity, which means less demand for the power sold
by utilities. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data
shows that total power use in the US declined nearly 1 per cent
between 2008 and 2013. In Michigan, over the same period,
electricity sales fell 2.5 per cent as wind turbines, solar panels
and biomass generation sites proliferated across the state.
Michigan has mandated that utilities generate 10 per cent of
their electric sales by 2015 from renewable energy sources.
DTE Energy, the owner of Fermi 3, says it will reach that mark.
Also, later this year the federal Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) could finalise rules to cut carbon dioxide
emissions from plants by 30 per cent from 2005 levels by
2030. But Jeremiah Johnson, assistant professor at the
University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources &
Environment, told the Free Press that utilities likely will not
need to resort to nuclear to meet that goal.
Progress post-Fukushima
An irony of the uncertain prospects for nuclear power in the
US is that safety concerns, although not allayed altogether,
would seem to have been addressed. In a section entitled
“Fermi Facts”, Mr Reindl noted that:
• Fermi 2, currently in operation near Detroit, is of similar
design to the Fukushima reactor implicated in the
meltdowns in Japan in 2011. But it has better safety
features, including backup diesel generators within a
concrete bunker situated well above the floodplain.
• Fermi 3 would be an Economic Simplified Boiling-
Water Reactor. Considered a third-generation reactor,
it is designed to be able to cool itself for a week in an
instance of complete power loss. The builder is GE-Hitachi
(Wilmington, North Carolina), a global nuclear alliance
known in Japan as Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd.
Automotive
A hypothesis for a lagging
industry: electric cars are losing
out to a new/old fuel-saving
technology – the turbocharger
“It’s really a mini jet engine in your car.”
Michael Stoller, a spokesman for Honeywell Transportation
Systems, was referring to the turbocharger – which Honeywell
supplies in quantity to automakers around the globe.
The forced-induction device, which reuses hot exhaust
gases to increase engine power in a smaller space,
was once the almost exclusive equipage of expensive
sports and luxury cars. But now it is turning up in vehicles
from budget subcompacts to pickup trucks and plug-in
hybrids.
As explained by Lawrence Ulrich, the chief auto critic of the
New York Times , in turbocharger technology the hot exhaust
spins a turbine wheel at up to 250,000rpm, which compresses
air and stuffs it into engine cylinders, allowing more fuel to be
burned in a same-size engine.
An automaker is thus able to use six cylinders instead of eight,
or four instead of six, and still achieve the power of a larger
engine.
The downsized engines also best their traditional counterparts
in low-end torque, for easier acceleration. The result, Mr
Ulrich says, is 10 to 30 per cent better fuel economy, often
in conjunction with direct fuel injection, which enhances