Nuclear Power – Past, Present & Future

The speaker for this presentation was Dr. David Hill. Dr. Hill is the Deputy for Science and Technology at the Idaho National Laboratory. He has an extensive background in the nuclear field, which might explain the full house of 84 people attending his presentation.

Nuclear has a history full of great achievements. Today, there are a little over 100 reactors in operation in 31 states throughout the United States. These reactors produce about 20% of the total electricity produced in the United States. An interesting fact, new to me, is about half of the fuel for these reactors comes from decommissioned weapons.

There does not seem to be an end to the need for nuclear generation. Industry experts believe that nuclear generation is an essential, but not only, part of reducing the carbon footprint of the United States. Like other clean energy sources, there are still political questions that need to be addressed as well as a need to better educate the public.

There is also a lot of research into nuclear technologies; $630 Million of funding was requested this year. This research is exploring methods to apply nuclear energy beyond electricity production by combining energy systems. Further development of high temperature reactors potential to be combined with oil, petroleum, natural gas refining and possibly be combined with hydrogen production and coal gasification.