IndianaLocalNews

Purdue looking into possibility of powering campus with nuclear energy

(Photo supplied/Purdue University)

Purdue is launching a feasibility study to see if nuclear power makes sense for the campus’s energy needs:

Four Purdue engineering professors will work with Duke Energy experts to study nuclear power for the university. President Mitch Daniels says it’s just a study, not a firm commitment, and will take a while to complete. But he says Purdue is committed to going carbon-free, and says any serious discussion of that goal has to incorporate nuclear power.

The U-S has 55 nuclear plants in 28 states, including six Duke plants in the Carolinas. But Indiana hasn’t attempted a nuclear plant in more than 40 years, since NIPSCO abandoned its planned Bailly Nuclear Power Plant in Porter County. Legal and construction delays had ballooned the costs and pushed the project five years behind schedule.

Daniels maintains safety worries about nuclear energy were always overstated. But he suggests people have become less instinctively opposed to the idea as they become more concerned about reducing dependence on fossil fuels.

And Daniels says nuclear technology is more advanced today than 40 years ago. The Purdue discussion will center on small modular reactors, which are cheaper to build than massive power-plant complexes. The reactor itself is small enough to be built elsewhere and trucked to the site, while more reactors can be added if power needs grow. Daniels says Purdue researchers helped develop the construction technology, while its nuclear engineering program means the university has its own experts available to evaluate whether the reactors are appropriate to Purdue’s energy needs.

The U-S hasn’t brought a new reactor online in seven years, though two reactors in Georgia are under construction and expected to be completed this year.

Related posts

Local News podcast for Thursday, March 28, 2024

Jon Zimney

$330 million Madison Lifestyle District proposed in South Bend

95.3 MNC

South Bend woman charged with stabbing death of 71-year-old husband

Jon Zimney

4 comments

Purdue looking into possibility of powering campus with nuclear energy – 953mnc.com – It's So Good News May 1, 2022 at 12:17 pm

[…] Purdue looking into possibility of powering campus with nuclear energy  953mnc.com Article Source […]

Reply
Charles U Farley May 1, 2022 at 5:45 pm

New reactors are NOTHING like the old ones. They produce much less nuclear waste and cannot readily have a “run away” meltdown event.

This is actually a good move on Purdue’s part.

Reply
James Johns May 2, 2022 at 8:51 am

Common sense may actually be creeping its way into the discussion about US energy and the practical / economical ways in which to produce it.

Reply
Lenny Delvecchio May 2, 2022 at 10:30 am

The U-S?!?

Reply

Leave a Comment