Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 10, 1991 TAG: 9102110255
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAMES J. KILPATRICK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
For answers, I dropped around the other day to see Energy Secretary James D. Watkins.
First, oil supplies are not about to run dry. Inventories in December were more than 150 million barrels above average stock levels of the past four years. Other producing nations have more than replaced the 4.3 million barrels per day that have been lost from Iraq and Kuwait. Saudi Arabian wells can be protected against significant permanent damage. There is no need to become anxious for the foreseeable future.
All the same, as Watkins recently has emphasized, reliable and abundant supplies of oil are vital to the global economy. Coal may provide an alternative to oil in some instances, but in many manufacturing processes oil is irreplaceable.
Simple prudence suggests that the United States reduce its vulnerability to the volatility of the international oil market. Alternative energy sources must be promoted and made more efficient. Watkins has sent President Bush a National Energy Strategy built around these elementary premises.
What alternative sources is Watkins talking about? Nuclear power above all else. It's his field. The former chief of naval operations got out of the Naval Academy in 1949, went through the usual assignments of a young officer, and then earned his master's degree in reactor engineering at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. With the encouragement of Adm. Hyman Rickover, he went into nuclear submarines, and then served for three years in the Atomic Energy Commission as Rickover's assistant for naval nuclear propulsion.
Granted, the nuclear power industry has had a rough time of it in recent years. The 110 atomic plants now in operation produce 20 percent of the nation's electric power, but no new plants are under construction or licensed for construction. Ways must be perfected to bury waste for 100,000 years.
The problems are not insurmountable. General Electric and Westinghouse are competing for authorization to put a new 650-megawatt plant on line by 2000. By 2010, if all goes well, nuclear plants will provide 30 percent of our nation's power. Perhaps by 2025, nuclear fusion will become commercially feasible.
Meanwhile, Watkins is realistic about other alternative sources. Except in a few places, windpower will not amount to much. Research continues on oil shale but will not be competitive for years to come. He is encouraging the private sector to continue work on geothermal ventures.
Solar energy was the talk of the industry 10 or 15 years ago. Watkins believes there is "real potential." By 2000, solar power should be competitively priced. It is too expensive now to play a significant role.
Improving the efficiency of hydroelectric power from existing dams could provide an additional 20,000 megawatts. The incineration of municipal waste could become "a major growth industry," but complaints about noise, odor and blowing ash must be resolved.
All in all, says the admiral, the nation's energy future looks pretty good. Sensible conservation and imaginative research will lessen our dependence on oil and enhance the environment. Universal Press Syndicate
by CNB