Westinghouse Optimistic on Nuclear Energy Revival

There has not been a nuclear plant ordered in the United States since 1973 and only a few have been ordered internationally, but Westinghouse Electric Corp., the industry leader, sees a revival coming.

Richard J. Slember, vice president and general manager of Westinghouse’s Energy Systems Business, which oversees the company’s nuclear power business, said demand for electricity, simplified licensing procedures, new plant designs and improved waste management could lead to a demand for more plants by the mid-1990s.

“For a number of reasons, the future looks better now than it has been in perhaps more than a decade,” Slember said in an interview.

“If you look at the market (for new plants) for the next three to five years, the market is almost entirely (foreign),” Slember said.

While Westinghouse may have its ax to grind, it is not alone in arguing that the fortunes of nuclear power may be turning a corner.

Legislators and some environmentalists are giving nuclear a second look because of concerns about the global “greenhouse effect.” Power plants that burn fossil fuels emit carbon dioxide, which is said to be raising the temperature of Earth’s atmosphere.

In January, scientists and politicians at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland urged action on the global warming, including consideration of nuclear energy.

Carol Rubbia, a Nobel Prize winner and head of the Geneva-based European Center for Nuclear Research, said that countries might be forced to stop burning coal, oil and natural gas in the next 20 to 30 years.

He said the only realistic alternative would be nuclear generation, and urged development of fusion, a process regarded as less hazardous than nuclear fission.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been changing its expensive and time-consuming licensing procedure. In April, it said the time it takes to get a plant approved would be halved, and it would reduce the number of steps to licensing.

Westinghouse’s Slember said that in the United States, demand for electricity has risen dramatically over the past 10 years and will continue to increase, straining the resources of electric utilities, which have not significantly expanded their generating capacity.

Westinghouse is building a plant in Britain and is proposing to build a second, he said. South Korea, Taiwan and Japan are continuing their nuclear programs and Spain has shown some interest in the technology. “They have a tremendous need for power,” he said.

Given this demand and the choice among gas, coal and nuclear power, some utilities will choose nuclear, Slember said.

The industry has been severely hindered by the problems of disposing of the radioactive wastes it generates, as well as negative public opinion since the reactor failure at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania 10 years ago and the accident at Chernobyl in the Soviet Union in 1986.

Westinghouse and the industry are developing new ways to deal with wastes and to build more efficient plants that address the safety issue, Slember said.

Coal-burning facilities have environmental problems of their own, notably concern about the greenhouse effect and acid rain legislation expected to be passed by early 1990.