How do you feel about nuclear power?
You know, that thing that started with the atom bomb, developed into a great new source of clean energy, scared the bejesus out of the world with a couple of reactor incidents and ended up being pretty much banned for fear of radiation and radioactive waste.
Don’t look now, but nuclear energy is experiencing a renaissance. That’s partially due to a recognition of human-impacted global warming, and the sudden quantum leap in need for electricity, thanks largely to the arrival of Artificial Intelligence and the data centers (computer farms) needed to make AI work.
Southern California News Group reporters Donna Littlejohn and Kristy Hutchings did a great job last week on an in-depth article about a new nuclear initiative at the Port of Long Beach. You should have read it in the Press Telegram and/or the Grunion, but you can go back and look at it in the archives, too.
That story was all about development of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) designed to sit on barges and use nuclear power to generate electricity to run the increasingly electric Port of Long Beach. It so happens that I’ve been doing quite a bit of research myself on SMRs as they relate to data centers, so the project by Bluecore Energy caught my attention.
First, a little history from the old guy, if you don’t mind. I can still remember drills in my elementary school classes where we were ordered to get on the floor under our little desks (remember those one-piece things you slid into sideways?) to get protection from nuclear bombs during the Cold War. I have no idea how that desktop was going to make a difference if bombs like the one that flattened Hiroshima actually fell, but it was supposed to make us feel better, so…
I was a science nerd back then, and was fascinated by the efforts to harness this destructive power for the good of humanity. There was lots of celebration when the first commercial generation plants went online in 1969.
Then in 1979, the nuclear core at Three Mile Island melted down, panicking the entire East Coast in fear of radiation poisoning (no one was injured, and apparently the radiation that did leak wasn’t enough to cause harm). The real deal took place just seven years later at Chernobyl, then part of the Soviet Union. Several dozen people died, and 100,000 were evacuated due to widespread radiation.
It didn’t help nuclear power’s reputation any when Jane Fonda went ballistic (metaphorically speaking) in the movie “The China Syndrome.” Nuclear plants worldwide were forced to shut down. California, ever the leader, put a moratorium on building nuclear plants in 1976 until a permanent solution to nuclear waste disposal was in place. (That hasn’t happened.)
But scientific advances have been made and, despite the 2011 accident at Fukushima, Japan, (due to an earthquake and tsunami) nuclear power has been making a comeback. Many European countries have returned to nuclear for electricity (France gets 68% of its power from nuclear), and even Three Mile Island is getting ready to reopen – thanks to big bucks from Microsoft buying electricity to run their data centers.
So back to today and the Port of Long Beach. First, a little bit more about SMRs. Versions of SMRs have been on U.S. Navy ships and submarines for decades, providing the ability to go further without thousands of gallons of fuel. Nuclear-powered submarines were downright sexy.
SMRs are becoming the darlings of the data center boom because they can be located pretty much anywhere, taking the electricity-gobbling centers off the grid. To be fair, none have been put into commission yet, but interest is high.
There already is opposition to the SMR concept at the Port, primarily because of safety concerns. That’s fair – safety is an all-important component of handling any potentially deadly material or operation, and will undoubtedly be a big part of this proof of concept effort.
SMRs have a couple of things going for them right off the bat. That whole small thing is important – it doesn’t hold a whole lot of uranium, plutonium or whatever it is they are using for the nuclear reaction. They only have to be refueled every couple of years, and the amount of waste is – say it with me – small.
Yes, risks remain. Would it be safer to not even try to develop a nuclear energy source? Technically, yes.
But there were dangers developing the steam engine, too. Natural gas power plants can be hazardous. Don’t get me started on the problems with coal.
I’ve always admired the port leadership’s willingness to take chances on new solutions to old problems. I’m rooting for the Pier Wind project, and all the alternative energy operations are admirable.
Nuclear energy can be dangerous. Nuclear energy can also be a boon to the future of our world.
I say let’s make it work. What do you say?