Advocates laud safety of new nuclear reactors

Global warming, fuel costs drive interest, but opponents warn of danger

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Jose Reyes’ research lab looks like a three-story tangle of pipes and instruments. But to nuclear engineers like him, it’s evidence that generating electricity by splitting atoms can cost less and be done more safely than in the past.

Reyes heads an Oregon State University team that’s built a quarter-scale model of the Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear plant

Even though the lab looks complicated, the model is far simpler than the plants built in the 20th century. Without using radioactive material, it tests the AP1000’s “passive-safety” system, which relies on gravity rather than a battery of mechanical pumps to carry water to a reactor in an emergency.

“I think Oregon State was working much like the consumer products testing lab for nuclear power plants,” Reyes said.

AP