The United States must increase its share of the global market for nuclear energy technologies if it wants to ensure that customer nations are securing sensitive materials and systems against potential acquisition by terrorists, the head of the nuclear industry’s lobbying arm and a prominent nonproliferation advocate said Tuesday.
Maria Korsnick, president and CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute, and Kenneth Luongo, president of the Partnership for Global Security, spoke at the release of a new report, “Nuclear Power for the Next Generation,” which was prepared by a panel of experts formed by their organizations.
The report broadly is a call to arms on promoting nuclear power in the United States and globally to meet challenges topped by climate change. One of its primary recommendations is strengthening the system of global nuclear governance, which encompasses national regulations, international agreements, and other measures to ensure safety and security of nuclear operations.
“To increase its market share and thereby preserve its ability to shape the global use of nuclear technology, the United States must have both a strong domestic nuclear power program and an aggressive nuclear trade and export program,” Korsnick told the audience at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Sixty new nuclear power reactors are being built today in 15 nations, while another 20 countries have indicated interest in atomic energy, according to the Global Nexus Initiative report. The United States, meanwhile, has ceded ground in exports of nuclear technologies and services to Russia, South Korea, and possibly soon China, the report adds.
The U.S. Commerce Department forecasts the global market for nuclear gear and services will be worth as much as $740 billion over a decade, with 5,000 to 10,000 U.S. jobs supported by each $1 billion in exports, NEI says. It pointed to a 2010 report from the Governmental Accountability Office that found that the U.S. exports of nuclear reactors and parts increased in value from 1994 to 2008, but the nation actually lost market share in failing to keep up with the growth in the global market. That trend has continued in the intervening years, NEI said.
As an example of the United States’ ability to use market power to promote nuclear security, Korsnick cited the Atoms for Peace program established in the 1950s by President Dwight Eisenhower. Under the initiative, U.S. companies licensed nuclear technology to other nations and the United States could set the safeguards to ensure the non-military use of that technology.
That idea might apply to future exports of advanced nuclear reactors that could prove popular in other nations because they would be more modest in both size and output than today’s light-water reactors, Luongo said. It is by no means certain that exporters China and Russia would demand the same security and nonproliferation requirements for use of their systems as would the United States, he added.
“That is what sets the tone for the future,” he said. “I think the United States has been a very responsible supplier and I think it needs to remain an active participant in this process.”
Any nation looking to procure significant amounts of U.S. nuclear material or technology must also sign a so-called “123 Agreement” with the United States, based on Section 123 of the U.S. Atomic Energy Act. There are currently 23 such agreements in place with nations and entities, each requiring the partner to adhere to U.S. nuclear nonproliferation norms.
“Just doing business with the United States, there’s certain agreements that need to be signed, and you can hook the nonproliferation requirements and standards that you want to those agreements,” Korsnick said. “So that process is how you do business with any nuclear exports today.”
