Can the nuclear industry keep pace with increased demand for new reactors? That's questionable, according to Charles D. Ferguson (right), Philip D. Reed Senior Fellow for Science and Technology, and Michelle M. Smith, research associate for nuclear policy, both at the Council on Foreign Relations. The two teamed up to explore the roadblocks facing the nuclear industry, including a limited workforce and constraints on materials. “We wanted to find out if the nuclear industry's claims of an emerging nuclear renaissance would hold up to reality,” Ferguson explains. In “How Not To Build a Nuclear Reactor,” the authors note that “many trade schools no longer teach nuclear-specific skills,” and 27 percent of the nuclear energy workforce “will be eligible to retire by the end of 2009.” But lack of personnel and limited materials will not pose insurmountable challenges to nuclear expansion, they argue.
In 28 years of working in the power industry, Brian P. Reilly has, in his own words, “covered the ‘womb-to-tomb’ aspects of the business.” Reilly, the principal vice president and manager of nuclear operations for Bechtel Power Corporation, oversees all of Bechtel's nuclear projects worldwide. Most recently he directed the Browns Ferry Unit 1 Restart Project in Alabama in 2007. In light of a potential nuclear power revival, Reilly agrees that a personnel shortage and a weak supply chain could hinder the nuclear industry's capacity to expand. Yet, he argues that the nuclear energy industry can respond quickly to growth. A robust nuclear supply chain and an experienced workforce beyond U.S. borders could facilitate the new U.S. build, he writes in “Counterpoint: Nuclear is Ready for a Comeback.”
COVER ARTIST
Ario
Dried wisteria–an invasive plant–is scattered along the ground. A nearby match threatens to create a burning pyre. Yet bits of cotton and green leaves add a hopeful element to Chicago artist Ario's photograph for the September/October 2008 Bulletin cover. To Ario, the photo raises the question, “Is man an interloper in nature or can man decide to harmonize with nature?” He finds room for optimism, explaining, “We can use the matches [to] create fire to destroy, or we can create fire to create heat, light, and life.”
A native of Iran, Ario immigrated to the United States in 1978, months before the Islamic Revolution. His experience as an émigré informs his artwork: Statelessness is a common theme. He often works with found objects, creating what he terms “three-dimensional sketches.” Ario initially photographed this cover as a study. But the image resonated so well with the Bulletin's editors, it became the final work. The photo fits with the hopeful themes he typically tries to convey: “The nuclear road that man has started dead-ends, and we need to collectively come to our senses.”
Several countries in the Middle East are interested in generating nuclear power, but are their goals realistic? Wyn Q. Bowen, director, and James M. Acton, lecturer, both at the Centre for Science and Security Studies at King's College London, investigate the difficulties confronting Mideast nuclear energy programs, including developing waste management strategies, putting in place regulations, and staffing plants. They look specifically at Turkey, Egypt, and the Gulf Cooperation Council states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia) and find that Turkey and Egypt's failed past attempts to develop nuclear power plants will serve them well. Both “possess relatively sophisticated waste management infrastructures,” and “Turkey's history of failed nuclear power projects has ironically left it with a comparatively well-developed regulatory structure,” write Bowen and Acton. That's not the case for Saudi Arabia, on either count: “The hurdles facing a state developing its first nuclear power plant are considerable.”
Confronting nuclear waste, nuclear safety concerns, and the drawn-out process of building nuclear reactors can predispose the public to reject nuclear energy. Under such circumstances, the nuclear energy industry has tried to sway public opinion through advertisements appealing to emotions, rather than intellect. The tactic doesn't surprise Diane Farsetta, a senior researcher at the Center for Media and Democracy. In “The Campaign to Sell Nuclear,” Farsetta takes a historical look at the U.S. nuclear energy industry's public relations campaigns and finds some common themes, one being the propensity to target women. For instance, the 1966 industry film Atom and Eve depicts a delighted Eve dancing about Atom, an effort to convince women of the charm and utility of nuclear energy. In trying to improve current public opinion about nuclear energy, the industry is dusting off many of the same methods: “Current PR draws on images, slogans, and tactics previously employed by the industry a decade or more ago,” Farsetta finds.
Moscow-based artist Evgeny Parfenov has produced magazine and book covers depicting Rambo, R.E.M., Dimitri Shostakovich, and Franz Kafka. But he rarely portrays something as technical as nuclear energy. Given the potentially wide impact of nuclear and the range of those pursuing its growth, Parfenov took a sweeping view of the enterprise: a nuclear conductor directing a nuclear energy-enabled civilization. The illustration he created to accompany “Why Go Nuclear?” appears on p. 14.
