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Like all figures in the energy debate, these will be vehemently disputed, but the point remains that there are alternatives to both nuclear power and foreign oil worthy of consideration. One is "cogeneration" of power; that is, using waste heat from factories and apartment houses to generate electricity at power plants built on site. Co-generation provides about a third of West Germany's electricity. The Army Corps of Engineers believes that electricity supplies could be increased significantly by expanding and improving existing hydroelectric power stations. Other alternatives will require technological breakthroughs. The fluidized-bed method of burning coal-essentially, burning a mixture of crushed coal and sand suspended on a column of air inside a superhot container-promises ultimately to make combustion more efficient while cutting down on pollutants. It is now in the experimental stage, but has yet to be made applicable to large-scale commercial operations. Unlocking oil from the vast deposits of shale rock in the West at present is uneconomical, produces gigantic piles of ash, and uses too much valuable water. But tests indicate that oil may be burned out of the shale underground without adding much to pollution.
These are only examples of possibilities. All may succeed; all may fail. There is no one "solution" to the energy problem. Zealots of every stripe have done the nation a disservice by touting their pet ideas (conservation, nuclear power, solar power, co-generation or whatever) as the solution and denigrating every other idea. Their competing overenthusiasms have confused an already difficult debate. The task is to devise a truly comprehensive energy program, investigating every feasible idea and pouring time and money into those that seem most promising.
In the most comprehensive imaginable energy program, however, nuclear power still would play a role. So the question remains: How can reactors be made safer right now? There are several approaches:
REGULATION. Experts from the NRC should be on duty in the control room of every reactor round the clock, armed with full authority to take over at the first sign of trouble, order a shut down if that seems necessary, direct all emergency procedures for closing the plant—and damn what it may cost. At present, this responsibility is borne largely by utility-company employees, who, with the best will in the world, cannot avoid thinking about the costs to the company. In addition, computers at all U.S. nuclear plants should be wired in to a central NRC monitoring station, so that the first blip registering potential trouble would ring an alarm at headquarters.