Home » A Statement from U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz Regarding Fukushima Editors Note: This statement has been updated as of 12:55 PM on November 1, 2013 “On Friday, I made my first visit to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. [8][9], After graduating from Stanford, Moniz joined the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1973, serving as head of the Department of Physics from 1991 to 1995 and as director of the Bates Linear Accelerator Center. When it comes to safety, the design requirements for nuclear reactors must be reexamined in light of up-to-date analyses of plausible accidents. If the benefits of nuclear power are to be realized in the United States, each of these hurdles must be overcome. Increasingly, both sides have been playing tug of war over this information, but little has been said directly by the Obama administration. [16], In June 2017, Moniz became co-chairman and chief executive officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to prevent catastrophic attacks with weapons of mass destruction and disruption—nuclear, biological, radiological and cyber. The safety and capital cost challenges involved with traditional nuclear power plants may be considerable, but a new class of reactors in the development stage holds promise for addressing them. Sweden upgraded its waste disposal program with just such a consensus-based process, and for a dozen years the U.S. Department of Energy has operated a geological repository for trans- uranic waste near Carlsbad, New Mexico, with strong community support. Even after Fukushima, Congress and the White House appear to still be committed to this assistance program. Nuclear energy is generated by splitting uranium, leaving behind dangerous radioactive products, such as cesium and strontium that must be isolated for centuries. Author: Ernest J. Moniz | Jan. 11, 2018 Transcript of Speech at Center for Strategic and International Studies. Wind and solar power are becoming increasingly widespread, but their intermittent and variable supply make them poorly suited for large-scale use in the absence of an affordable way to store electricity. [3] Before his appointment as Secretary of Energy, Moniz served in a variety of advisory capacities, including at BP,[4] General Electric,[5] and the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Do not appoint Ernest Moniz. U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said the time will come—perhaps 10 to 15 years from now—when “nuclear power is going to have to see a substantial resurgence.” In the United States, an already slow approach to new nuclear plants slowed even further in the face of an unanticipated abundance of natural gas. But each is needed to reduce uncertainty for the public, the energy companies, and investors. In the 40 years since the first Fukushima reactor was commissioned, seismology and the science of flood hazards have made tremendous progress, drawing on advances in sensors, modeling, and other new capabilities. Still, nuclear power faces a number of challenges in terms of safety, construction costs, waste management, and weapons proliferation. What happened to Obama's call for "clean" energy in his 2013 State of the Union address? Another break from the past would be to manage civilian nuclear waste separately from military nuclear waste. Instead, Washington is trying to use diplomacy to impose constraints on a country-by- country basis, in the futile hope that countries will agree to give up enrichment and reprocessing in exchange for nuclear cooperation with the United States. The waste is now mostly held at power plants in dry cask storage or in spent fuel pools, said Moniz, a nuclear physicist who has run the department since 2013. This is a time- consuming process for any new nuclear technology, and it will be especially so for those SMR designs that represent significant departures from the NRC’s experience. In Isaiah’s words we must “come and reason together.” You can hear Ernest Moniz’s speech and Q&A here. Ernest Moniz's "all of the above" energy policies might be good for his friends in the coal, oil and gas industries, but they're a death sentence for us and our planet. At each site, the aging fuel would be monitored, so that any problems that arose could be addressed. In return for giving up the possibility of reprocessing fuel and thus separating out weapons-grade material, the country using the fuel would free itself from the challenges of managing nuclear waste. Moniz is one of the founding members of The Cyprus Institute and has served at Massachusetts Institute of Technology as the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems, as the Director of the Energy Initiative, and as the Director of the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment. As it does so, it must adopt a more adaptive and flexible approach than it did last time, holding early negotiations with local communities, Native American tribes, and states. Dr. Moniz and Jason also discussed the outlook for the Iran nuclear agreement, and what the implications may be for energy markets, following the Trump Administration’s decision to withdraw from the deal. Ernest J. Moniz served as the thirteenth United States Secretary of Energy from 2013 to January 2017. And if governments eventually cap carbon dioxide emissions through either an emissions charge or a regulatory requirement, as they are likely to do in the next decade or so, then nuclear energy will be more attractive relative to fossil fuels. These reactors, called small modular reactors (SMRs), produce anywhere from ten to 300 megawatts, rather than the 1,000 megawatts produced by a typical reactor. Since SMRrs are smaller than conventional nuclear plants, the construction costs for individual projects are more manageable, and thus the financing terms may be more favorable. He served as Undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Energy in 1997–2001. Besides, in the long run, burning natural gas would still release too much carbon dioxide. As Secretary, he advanced energy technology innovation, nuclear security and strategic stability, cutting-edge capabilities for the American scientific research community, and environmental stewardship. Today, it makes more sense to put plans for storing military waste on a separate, faster track, since that process is less daunting than coming up with a solution to civilian waste. Given the sustained challenge of waste management, an overhaul to the existing program should include the establishment of a new federally chartered organization that is a step or two removed from the short-term political calculus. [18], In November 2020, Moniz was named a candidate for Secretary of Energy in the Biden Administration. [14] He succeeded Steven Chu as Secretary of Energy. This approach has several advantages. This new knowledge needs to be brought to bear not only when designing new power plants but also when revisiting the requirements at older plants, as was happening at Fukushima before the tsunami. The dry storage facilities at Fukushima were not compromised by the earthquake and tsunami, a sharp contrast to the problems that arose with the spent-fuel pools when cooling could not be maintained. Moniz discussed the state of nuclear power technology and the potential for escalating proliferation risks in light of current US-Russia tensions. Moreover, most of the military waste already has the uranium and plutonium separated out from the spent fuel, since the aim was to produce nuclear weapons material. The government’s role should be to help provide the private sector with a well-understood set of options, including nuclear power—not to prescribe a desired market share for any specific technology. According to cleantechnica.com, the Breakthrough Energy Coalition “does have a particular focus on nuclear energy.” Think of BEC as the billionaires’ nuclear club. There is an alternative to disposing of transuranic elements: they can be separated from the reactor fuel every few years and then recycled into new nuclear reactor fuel as an additional energy source. Event focuses on importance of science, students, and scale in the clean energy transition, U.S. C3E Women in Clean Energy Symposium convenes virtually, declaring environmental justice key for combating climate change, An investigation into household decision making. [6] He graduated from Durfee High School in Fall River, Massachusetts in 1962, where he was a member of the National Honor Society and was the president of the school's math club. Electricity generation emits more carbon dioxide in the United States than does transportation or industry, and nuclear power is the largest source of carbon-free electricity in the country. The government would no longer have to pay utilities for not meeting the mandated schedule, and communities near reactors would be reassured that spent fuel has a place to go. The additional cooling time would provide the Department of Energy, or some other organization, with more flexibility in designing a geological repository. If you haven’t heard of Ernest “Ernie” Moniz, there’s still a good chance you’ve seen a picture of him. [15] The comprehensive agreement between Iran and the so-called "P5+1" (which includes the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany and a representative from the European Union) was finalized on July 14, 2015, to much fanfare and criticism. It has been almost 40 years since the last new nuclear power plant was ordered. Energy Secretary nominee Dr. Ernest Moniz … In 2009, the Obama administration announced that it was canceling the Yucca Mountain project altogether, leaving no alternative in place for the disposal of radioactive waste from nuclear power plants. In an attempt to realize economies of scale, some utilities have turned to building even larger reactors, building ones that produce as much as 1,600 megawatts, instead of the typical 1,000 megawatts. Ernest Moniz, Secretary of Energy, Renewable Energy, Breakthrough, Solyndra, Nuclear Power, Energy Efficiency [7] After graduating from high school, Moniz attended Boston College, where he received his Bachelor of Science summa cum laude in physics. In the United States, there is still a great deal of uncertainty over the cost of new nuclear power plants. Three reactors were severely damaged, suffering at least partial fuel meltdowns and releasing radiation at a level only a few times less than Chernobyl. Some observers are also concerned that the spread of civilian nuclear energy infrastructure could lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons—a problem exemplified by Iran’s uranium-enrichment program. The 14-meter-high wave was more than twice the height that Fukushima was designed to withstand, and it left the flooded plant cut off from external logistical support and from its power supply, which is needed to cool the reactor and pools of spent fuel. Moniz left office with Obama in 2017, and these days, he’s back teaching at MIT and working on various clean energy and nuclear non-proliferation efforts. The event caused widespread public doubts about the safety of nuclear power to resurface. I appreciate the invitation to join you at CSIS, an extraordinarily effective and respected organization here in Washington and around the world. Hydropower, meanwhile, has very limited prospects for expansion in the United States because of environmental concerns and the small number of potential sites. [4], Moniz was born in 1944 in Fall River, Massachusetts, the son of Georgina (Pavão) Moniz and Ernest Perry Moniz, both of whom were Portuguese immigrants from São Miguel Island, Azores. In the United States, the NRC’s review led to a recommendation that nuclear power plant operators reevaluate seismic and flood hazards every ten years and alter the design of the plants and their operating procedures as appropriate. Obama did appoint Ernest Moniz, a nuclear physicist, to the post of Energy Secretary in 2013, but both Moniz and the administration have been relatively quiet about nuclear since that time – until this week. In the United States, Congress adopted a prescriptive approach, legislating both a single site, at Yucca Mountain, in Nevada, and a specific schedule for burying spent fuel underground. If nuclear energy is to enjoy a sustained renaissance, the challenge of managing nuclear waste for thousands of years must be met. A more productive approach to developing nuclear power—and confronting the mounting risks of climate change—is long overdue. Yet nuclear power enjoys low operating costs, which can make it competitive on the basis of the electricity price needed to recover the capital investment over a plant’s lifetime. After Fukushima, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an independent federal agency that licenses nuclear reactors, reviewed the industry’s regulatory requirements, operating procedures, emergency response plans, safety design requirements, and spent-fuel management. Nevada pushed back, and the schedule slipped by two decades, which meant that the government had to pay court-ordered damages to the utility companies. ", "Who Is Ernest Moniz, Obama's Likely Pick for Energy Secretary? For example, it might make sense to separate out the long-living transuranic elements in nuclear reactor waste, which constitute a nasty but very small package, and dispose of them in a miles-deep borehole, while placing the shorter-living materials in repositories closer to the surface. From May 2013 to January 2017, Moniz served as United States Secretary of Energy in the Obama Administration. In order for that to happen, the U.S. government will have to figure out how to incubate early movers while not locking in one technology prematurely. It offers nuclear products and services to utilities internationally, including nuclear fuel, service and maintenance, instrumentation, control and design of nuclear power plants. Such natural disasters, although infrequent, should have been planned for in the reactor’s design: the Pacific Ring of Fire has seen a dozen earth- quakes in the 8.5 to 9.5 range in the last hundred years, and Japan has the most recorded tsunamis in the world, with waves sometimes reaching 30 meters high. In 1985, the government elected to comingle defense and civilian waste in a single geological repository. Nuclear physicist Ernest J. Moniz has returned to MIT following more than three and a half years of service as the 13th U.S. Secretary of Energy. Westinghouse Electric Company LLC is an American nuclear power company formed in 1999 from the nuclear power division of the original Westinghouse Electric Corporation. As Secretary, he advanced energy technology innovation, nuclear security and strategic stability, cutting-edge capabilities for the American scientific research community, and environmental stewardship. But such an incremental step should not substitute for a comprehensive approach to waste management. If countries such as Iran are able to enrich uranium to make new reactor fuel and separate out the plutonium to recover its energy value, they then have access to the relevant technology and material for a weapons program. One promising scheme to keep fissile material out of the hands of would-be proliferators involves returning nuclear waste to the fuel-supplying country (or a third country). But if the United States takes a hiatus from creating new clean-energy options—be it SMRs, renewable energy, advanced batteries, or carbon capture and sequestration—Americans will look back in ten years with regret. Washington should stick to its plan of offering limited assistance for building several new nuclear reactors in this decade, sharing the lessons learned across the industry. This helps not only the plant owner but also customers, who are increasingly being asked to pay higher rates today to fund tomorrow’s plants. Further delay will only raise the stakes. If you haven’t heard of Ernest “Ernie” Moniz, there’s still a good chance you’ve seen a picture of him. (CAMBRIDGE, MA) — President Barack Obama announced today that he intends to nominate MIT’s Ernest J. Moniz to head the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Only then can the public’s trust be earned. The NRC’s initial reaction to the safety lessons of Fukushima must be translated into action; the public needs to be convinced that nuclear power is safe. Instead of being stored near reactors, spent fuel should eventually be kept in dry casks at a small number of consolidated sites set up by the government where the fuel could stay for a century. Ernest J. Moniz is co-chair and CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit, nonpartisan global security organization focused on reducing nuclear and … There is a lot of headroom for creative diplomacy. He began serving in June 2017. Outdated safety requirements should not be kept in place. And assuming a defense waste repository were established first, the experience gained operating it would be highly valuable when it comes time to establish a civilian one. But with no functioning commercial waste management system in place, the program cannot be extended to accommodate waste from commercial reactors. Again, and we all know nuclear power is 60 percent of our – roughly speaking – zero-carbon generation. (In 2016, Terra Power, based in Bellevue, Washington, received a $40 million grant from Ernest Moniz’s Department of Energy.) But the strategy backfired, and the program is in a shambles. This ad hoc approach might have worked when the United States was the dominant supplier of nuclear technology and fuel, but it no longer is, and other major suppliers, such as France and Russia, appear uninterested in imposing such restrictions on commercial transactions. It issued other recommendations addressing issues such as the removal of combustible gas and the monitoring of spent-fuel storage pools. Local concerns about nuclear waste facilities are not going to magically disappear; they need to be addressed with a more adaptive, collaborative, and transparent waste program. Thank you, John. The country supplying the fuel would treat the returned spent fuel as it does its own, disposing of it directly or reprocessing it. The NRC also proposed regulations that would require nuclear power stations to have systems in place to allow them to remain safe if cut off from outside power and access for up to three days. He served as U.S. Secretary of Energy from 2013 to 2017. The downside, however, is that this process is complex and expensive, and it poses a proliferation risk since plutonium can be used in nuclear weapons. From May 2013 to January 2017, Moniz served as United States Secretary of Energy in the Obama Administration. [17] In 2018, Moniz was hired by the government of Saudi Arabia to serve as member of the global advisory board of the Neom project, a $500 billion planned megacity in the Tabuk Region. Ernest Jeffrey Moniz, GCIH is an American nuclear physicist and government official. In most cases, the amount of additional waste would be small in comparison to what that country is already handling. The country must also replace its broken nuclear waste management system with a more adaptive one that safely disposes of waste and stores it for centuries. The success or failure of these construction projects in avoiding delays and cost overruns will help determine the future of nuclear power in the United States. Ernest J. 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