Exploring the Future
Electricity is the most critical energy for the future of America. Historically, cheap, plentiful electricity is associated with high employment and productivity. Our continued economic growth, the maintenance of our quality of life, and assurance of our security all depend on an abundant, affordable supply of electricity.
We are rapidly reaching the limits of our current generating capacity. This became most obvious in the West in the 1990s, with steeply rising electricity prices, shortages and even blackouts. Now those indicators are showing up across the country.
The Department of Energy (DOE) projects demand for electricity will increase 50% — 350,000 to 400,000 megawatts — over the next 20 years. Put another way, we will need to build between 1,300 and 1,900 new power plants by 2020. That’s about one a week. So we must work now to ensure that further supply is available, which will require exploration of new sources of power, including the latest nuclear technologies.
The NuStart initiative is a key to ensuring that safe, clean nuclear energy is part of the solution. Nuclear power provides cost-effective and plentiful supply, and can be brought online to produce large volumes of energy at low cost and with very low adverse environmental impact.
In any future planning for generating capacity, the environment matters, so new supply must meet strict requirements, such as high levels of safety and reliability. Just as important, new supply must avoid harming our air and water, and cannot contribute to the potential for global warming.
To help you better understand these issues, more in-depth information is available at: