Rarely have we experienced such a confluence of arguments in favor of making it easier for U.S. manufacturers to export reactor components and equipment for nuclear power plants being built around the world.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the global market for nuclear supplies will reach $500 billion to $740 billion over the next decade. If they can capture even a quarter of that market, U.S. nuclear manufacturers – including a number of suppliers in Connecticut ‒ could generate new business on a game-changing scale, and that would be a great thing. It would stimulate our economy, while generating billions of dollars in tax revenues and creating or sustaining up to 185,000 American jobs, the Nuclear Energy Institute says.
What’s more, raising the level of U.S. exports might go a long way toward righting our nation’s lopsided balance of trade – a ballooning deficit in which imports of goods and services exceeded exports by a whopping $20 billion just in January. On top of that, nuclear power is increasingly important in the battle against air pollution and global climate change.
Nearly 70 nuclear plants are being built around the world to meet growing demand for clean energy. Another 150 reactors are planned, and over 340 more are proposed. That’s in addition to 435 operating nuclear plants, including 104 in the United States, which must be kept in excellent working order.
China, India and other countries hoping to reduce their use of coal in electricity generation have multiple reactors under construction. These countries need everything from reactor components to pumps, piping and valves. Depending on the design, a single reactor requires 300 miles of electric wiring and 30,000 electrical components. And reactors planned in small developing countries like Jordan, Vietnam and Malaysia won’t get built without these and other equipment from industrialized countries.
There’s one problem for U.S. companies: They may be left out of the parade. The United States will watch from the sidelines if it doesn’t streamline export regulations for nuclear technology. Currently it takes a year or more for federal agencies to process applications for nuclear export licenses, whereas other countries with nuclear industries like France, Germany and South Korea issue licenses in a few weeks.
In the competition for contracts, such delays place U.S. companies at a disadvantage that’s hard to overcome. Most countries have a single agency responsible for issuing export licenses, but in the United States license applications must be approved by four agencies – the departments of State, Energy and Commerce as well as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Consequently, the U.S. licensing process is more complex, time-consuming and restrictive than those in other countries.
The delays cost U.S. companies billions of dollars a year in business. Reforming our export policy for nuclear goods and services is in the national interest. For the next few decades at least, the increasing need for electricity and the unfolding environmental saga on climate change will continue to make nuclear technology a global growth business.
K. Paul Steinmeyer
Hebron