Newspaper Article

Radically New Designs for `Safe' ReactorsThis year is crucial for the future of nuclear energy. Willgovernment and the utilities invest in it?

By Mary Knudson- Mary Knudson is a science writer

1987

Overview

If a new-generation nuclear plant could be developed that would be more acceptable to the public for safety reasons and also be more economical for utilities to build, it could result in construction of hundreds of nuclear power plants in the United States by the turn of the century, said Vince Boyer, senior vice president at Philadelphia Electric Co. and an officer of the gas-cooled reactor group. An indication of the Energy Department's support for the liquid metal reactor is that the development budget proposed for next fiscal year includes $41.4 million for the liquid metal reactor and only $5 million for the gas-cooled reactor. The proposed new-generation designs have won support from an unusual source: the Union of Concerned Scientists, a group of about 100,000 members, mostly university-based scientists, who have taken stands against existing nuclear plants they believe to be unsafe, sought an end to development of a nuclear breeder reactor and oppose the proliferation of nuclear power for defense.

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