Abstract
Power demand across the United States is projected to explode in the next ten years due to increased data center construction. The effects of this increase are already being felt in rising electricity prices and pollution emissions. Determining the solution to this increase, whether it is increasing energy production, increasing energy efficiency, or reconsidering the scale of the data center build out, is critical for the continued function of the United States power grid.
To help address this problem, an analysis of the state of nuclear power will be conducted. The goal is to uncover the mechanisms that have led to the current state of the industry, and use those insights to recommend a course of action that would meet power demand while also keeping planet-warming emissions to a minimum.
Many modern conveniences and industrial processes rely completely on stable electricity to function, so energy production will remain nonnegotiable for our future. However, burning coal or natural gas for energy releases an unsustainable amount of planet-warming gases. Even if we stopped all of these emissions right now, the effects of previous emissions have yet to make themselves fully known. The human cost of the potential natural disasters and forced immigration due to sea level rise or temperature increase will be devastating. These risks make the decarbonization of our power grid imperative, and nuclear fission may hold part of the solution.
Actor Network Theory lends itself well to an industry that is so strictly regulated by the government. The factors that affect what contracts or subsidies will be enacted or what the regulatory process will entail are myriad and complex. Actor Network Theory analysis would create a more easily understandable abstraction of these factors and their impacts on each other. The main categories of actors in this network would be the public sector, the private sector, and the members of local communities.
The research will focus on the three broad categories of actors. The historical regulatory and business policies will be represented by the books, Keeping the Lights on at America’s Nuclear Power Plants and The Dark Horse: Nuclear Power and Climate Change. The historical public opinion and opinion of anti-nuclear activists will be represented by The Atomic Bamboozle, and The Anti-Nuclear Power Movement and Discourses of Energy Justice. These sources were selected for their author’s extensive backgrounds in their respective fields of geopolitical policy, climate policy, business operations, energy justice, and grassroots activism.
Through this research, a network of actors has been constructed. The network connects the biggest factors in the nuclear power equation, revealing the deeper causes. Those factors are cost, long approval permitting, waste disposal, and public opinion. The insights provided by this network provides starting points for creating a more sustainable and economical future of the United States power grid including nuclear energy.
Together, my capstone project and my STS research demonstrate that the adaptation of the United States power grid will require varied solutions, renewable, nuclear, or fossil fuel. The subjects of my capstone project and STS research, renewable and nuclear energy respectively, shows the future of the United States grid, and the world grid, may not be in fossil fuels. Our future energy policy needs to reflect that.
