In the annals of the long, still-ongoing debate over nuclear power, the most infamous words are undoubtedly “too cheap to meter.”
The origin of this phrase is a speech given on September 16, 1954 by Lewis L. Strauss, a former Navy officer who was appointed Chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in 1953 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Ever since Strauss gave that speech, many anti-nuclear activists have assumed and claimed that he meant that electricity from the nuclear fission style atomic plants that were being developed at that time would be so inexpensive it would not need to be metered.
The first nuclear fission power plant in the U.S. began operating four years later in 1957. Today there are 54 commercially operating nuclear power plants in the United States and a total of 410 operating worldwide in 32 countries.
Of course, due to the high and steadily increasing costs involved in meeting nuclear safety regulations, those power plants have not turned out to be “cheap” from a cost-per-kilowatt-hour perspective. At least, not compared to traditional energy sources like coal, oil and natural gas. Those sources have been economically “cheap” but are arguably more “costly” in terms of impacts on the environment, especially now that their carbon dioxide emissions are known to be major contributors to the climate change problems we face. Since nuclear power plants do not emit carbon dioxide, even many environmentalists now believe that building new nuclear plants may be crucial to efforts to reduce global warming.
Putting that debate aside, exactly what Strauss meant by his “too cheap to meter” comment in his speech, created a debate in itself.
The focus of his speech to the National Association of Science Writers in New York City on September 16th, 1954 dealt with how modern scientific research, in general, would lead to better lives for future generations. And, in his meter remark, he did not specify that he was talking about fission power reactors.
Here’s what Strauss said:
“Transmutation of the elements, — unlimited power, ability to investigate the working of living cells by tracer atoms, the secret of photosynthesis about to be uncovered, — these and a host of other results all in 15 short years. It is not too much to expect that our children will enjoy in their homes electrical energy too cheap to meter — will know of great periodic regional famines in the world only as matters of history,— will travel effortlessly over the seas and under them and through the air with a minimum of danger and at great speeds, — and will experience a lifespan far longer than ours, as disease yields and man comes to understand what causes him to age.”
In addition to being a promoter of nuclear fission power plants, Strauss was aware of nascent research into fusion power, a different type of “transmutation of elements.” Fusion power plants, now under development, can produce electricity without producing any CO2 or other harmful emissions, don’t create nuclear waste, and don’t pose the risk of a meltdown. If the dream of fusion power is achieved, it has the potential to create unlimited amounts electricity and also be very cost effective.
In the long debate over the “too cheap to meter” quote by Strauss, some people have suggested that it was a vague reference to fusion power. However, as noted in a post by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission about the history of the phrase, Strauss used the phrase several other times in remarks that were clearly about fission plants.
The NRC concluded that both “nuclear critics and proponents are partially correct.” Strauss was overly optimistic in his prediction for fission power plants. But he was aware of fusion power and it does have the potential to come much closer to his vision.
Of course, there’s an old saying that I think applies to any type of energy that’s used to generate significant amounts of electricity—including nuclear power, solar power, hydropower, wind power, or any other source. When you take into account all ways in which they impact the environment, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.”
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