Op-Ed Contributors

US wakes from nuclear energy slumber

By David Kan Ting (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-13 08:17

Editor's note: China is in the forefront of developing "green energy"- nuclear, wind, solar - as a way to cut emissions and to reduce dependence on imported oil. The thunder from China was loud enough to break America's 30-year lull.

A thunder from China has woken up Uncle Sam, like Rip Van Winkle, from a 20-year nap, to a different world. This world is in the midst of a Green Revolution. It is the biggest sea change since the Industrial Revolution, and Uncle Sam has slept too long to take the lead in this new movement.

It may sound strange that China, a developing country and the world's largest emitter of the greenhouse gases that contributed to global warming, is seen as a major player in this revolution in trying to make our planet green again after 200 years of pollution by industrialization.

China is in the forefront of developing "green energy"- nuclear, wind, solar - as a way to cut emissions and to reduce dependence on imported oil.

Its massive investment in nuclear energy is mind-boggling. By 2020, China will add 70 gigawatts of nuclear power by building 28 new reactors.

The thunder from China was loud enough to break America's 30-year lull.

The partial core meltdown at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in 1979 brought America's nuclear plant construction to a screeching halt. Since that accident, not a single nuclear reactor has been built. Even so, the United States is still the top user of nuclear power, with 104 reactors running to supply 20 percent of the country's total energy supply.

During this lull, China and many other countries have embraced nuclear power as "clean energy" to cut greenhouse gases and to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, particularly petroleum.

China is leading the charge and will build nearly 30 new reactors in the next decade. This brings a sense of dj vu: once upon a time America went all-out to develop nuclear power. Remember Atoms for Peace advocated by President Dwight Eisenhower in the early 1950s? America's first commercial nuclear reactor was built soon after that.

China's embrace of nuclear energy is only natural.

First, China replaced the United States in 2006 as the world biggest polluter, so it must reduce its dependence on coal-fired power plants and improve its energy mix by increasing the percentage of clean energy. Even if China achieves its goal of generating 70 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2020, this will account for only 9.7 percent of its overall energy needs.

Second, China's growing appetite for electricity, which tripled from 1997 to 2008, cannot be met solely by other clean energy sources, such as wind, hydro and solar. The creation of jobs, not only construction jobs but well-paid permanent green jobs is crucial to social stability and economic prosperity.

It was therefore not a surprise to see US President Barak Obama's decision to jump start America's moribund nuclear power industry with $8.3 billion in federal loan guarantees to help build two reactors in Georgia. This shot in the arm for America's nuclear industry is the first of its kind in 30 years. "This won't be the last loan guarantee," said Energy Secretary Steven Chu.