Thanks to all of you for including me on the distribution of your correspondence, primarily on “What is the best balance of LWR, HTGRs, and fast reactors for the next century?” and the fine discussions on utility regulations. Many of the names mentioned or put on the distribution lists rang a bell from my distant past. For example: Burt Wolfe, Karl Cohen, Chauncy Starr, John Graham, Neil Brown, Chuck Boardman, Chet Erman, Bob Burglund, and also brought to mind the names: Floyd Culler, Miles Leverett, Admiral Rickover, Milt Shaw and Ed Kintner. Mention of GE’s ABC courses brought to mind the C course lectures I gave in Evendale, Ohio and San Jose, California. Oh yes, my stints with EPRI in Naperville, Illinois and Palo Alto California were also brought to mind.
With all those memories I kept thinking about where we are going today. Yes, decisions on a mix and the impact of utility regulations are significant, but are we fiddling while Rome burns? Today we could not build a fast reactor in this country, much less a BWR or a PWR. The infrastructure does not exist and we (along with DOE) have let the manufacturing/construction infrastructure evaporate to the point where it is non-existent today. In other words all this talk about regulations and an appropriate mix is fine, but nobody is addressing the infrastructure required to build anything.
I’ve wondered what Admiral Rickover would say if he observed our present infrastructure status and our extensive discussions on the proper mix or the impact of regulations. Yes, those are important subjects for the future of nuclear power, but of no impact if we can’t build anything.
It appears that we have left the infrastructure without support from any source. Yes, we have shutdown EBR-II and FFTF, and eliminated CRBRP when it was almost complete, but have done nothing to sustain the infrastructure. As a retired French top executive of a large French firm said when he heard of our infrastructure status, “How could the United States have allowed this to happen?”
Yes, regulations and decisions on a mix are important, but without an infrastructure to build anything, we won’t even be able to do the upfront development of what we are going to use. Sorry about that Admiral, but that is where we are today!
Any suggestions?
Donald R. Riley
709 Largo Vista Drive
Knoxville, TN 37922-4134
Tel: 865-671-4196 E-mail: rileydon@charter.net