Energy: a Look at the Future

The Reagan Administration continues to promote nuclear energy while the rest of the nation charts a more realistic path to the future. While cutting back on conservation and alternative energy programs, the Administration says that it will support industry development of a standardized design for nuclear power plants. This, and faster licensing, should lead to plants that can be built in six years, Energy Secretary John S. Herrington said. “We have no intention of presiding over the demise of the American nuclear industry,” he declared.

These advances, if achievable within acceptable safety standards, may solve some of the nuclear industry’s problems, but certainly not all of them. Nuclear-waste disposal alone is a problem that will continue to haunt the nation for decades. Nuclear power may remain an option for additional generation of electricity in some areas, but not, probably, in California in the foreseeable future.

The Herrington comments were carried in the most recent issue of the Energy Scene, a publication of Southern California Edison Co. Other items in the newsletter demonstrate that alternative sources, often scoffed at by the Reagan Administration, no longer are just curiosities or gimmicks, but legitimate and economic providers of power.

The news notes included dedication of the first commercial geothermal steam plant in Nevada; opening of the world’s first binary geothermal power plant in Imperial County, Calif.; completion of the world’s largest commercial solar plant at Daggett, Calif., and a report on record generation of wind power in 1985, a threefold increase over the previous year.

Nuclear-power production is an important part of the nation’s entire energy picture. Ninety-eight plants, including six units in California, accounted for about 16% of the United States’ electricity output last year. Still, the industry is haunted by economic and operating problems. The smart utilities, like those in California, are prudently exploring other options. The Administration could contribute to a safer and saner American energy future by relaxing its fixation on nuclear power and joining the quest for practical alternative sources.