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Youth Tour Links Co-op Students, Government
As a member of the U.S. Senate in 1957, Lyndon Johnson told delegates to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) annual meeting they should send young people to Washington, D.C., to give youth an appreciation for the place where our nation’s laws are made.
Johnson’s suggestion is largely credited as the sparkplug for the Rural Electric Youth Tour, coordinated annually by NRECA beginning in 1964—a program that during the past 45 years has sent nearly 60,000 high school students to the nation’s capital.
This year in June, 11 students sponsored by nine different Wisconsin electric cooperatives joined more than 1,500 young people from across the country for a week of visits to government offices, historic sites, social gatherings of co-op delegations, and briefing sessions on rural electrification issues. While on Capitol Hill, the Wisconsin group met with Senator Herb Kohl, Representative Ron Kind, and their staffs to gain an insight into the legislative process and duties of congressional workers.
The students, their hometowns, and sponsoring electric cooperatives included Earl Evansen of Glidden, sponsored by Price Electric Co-op; Alexander Kostromin of Augusta, Eau Claire Energy; Brianna Berti of Rosholt, Central Wisconsin Electric; Andrea Krueger of Menomonie, Dunn Energy; Alex Mallory of Babcock and Ashley Miller of La Valle, Oakdale Electric; Natasha Frank of Osceola, Polk-Burnett Electric; Kelsey Olson of Black River Falls and Laura Henkel of Warrens, Jackson Electric; Sarah Roth of Baraboo, Adams–Columbia Electric; and Tyler Long, Orfordville, Rock Energy Co-op.
Finished with Capitol Hill visits, Wisconsin students cluster for a group photo: (back row, left to right) Alexander Kostromin, Laura Henkel, Kelsey Olson, Sarah Roth, Earl Evansen, and Natasha Frank. (Bending down) Alex Mallory, Brianna Berti, Andrea Krueger, Tyler Long and Ashley Miller.
In his Hart Building office,
Senator Kohl greets Ashley Miller.
Meeting in the hall outside his office, Representative Ron Kind explains his committee work schedule to the co-op youth
delegation, half of whom were his constituents.
Laura Henkel and Natasha Frank
show the mini-cheeseheads that the
Wisconsin youth exchanged for token
brought by students from other states.
Laura Henkel and Kelsey Olson
view the Korean War Memorial’s etched wall.
Andrea Krueger, Alex Mallory, and Earl get cozy with statues of a Depression-era breadline at the Franklin Roosevelt Memorial.
Scurrying from the Capitol to a congressional appointment, students try to dodge the rain.
Nuclear power in the United States has experienced a roller coaster ride of booms and busts. When the first wave of commercial reactors was built in the 1950s, Lewis Strauss, then-chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission—forerunner of today’s federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission—envisioned a future where nuclear energy would be “too cheap to meter.”
The vast amounts of electricity produced by nuclear plants seemed to offer a perfect, home-grown solution to the nation’s skyrocketing power needs, especially when the federal government restricted use of natural gas for electricity generation during the energy crisis of the 1970s and early 1980s. Nuclear power plants were built by the dozens, but by the mid-1980s the worldwide plunge of energy prices; slower-than-expected growth in electricity demand; and, following the accident at Three Mile Island, expensive safety mandates imposed on new reactors had taken the competitive edge off nuclear power.
Yet today, nuclear power seems poised for what some call a renaissance. Driving the renewed interest is a growing demand for electricity coupled with federal climate change legislation that will likely boost the price for every kilowatt generated by fuels that emit carbon dioxide—notably coal and natural gas.
“As a zero-carbon energy source, nuclear power must be part of our energy mix as we work toward energy independence and meeting the challenge of global warming,” U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Stephen Chu recently noted.
Since 1993, increases in generation capacity and improved efficiencies at the nation’s 104 commercial nuclear power plants have accounted for one-third of voluntary carbon dioxide reductions from U.S. industries, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Nuclear Energy Institute. In 2007, nuclear power accounted for about 74 percent of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions-free electric generation.
E=mc2
The basic principle of nuclear power is the same as with other types of power plants: use heat to boil water, create steam, and turn a turbine attached to an electric generator. With nuclear power the heat comes not from burning a combustible material such as coal, but from releasing energy stored in uranium atoms.
In 1934, it was discovered that when tiny particles called neutrons were fired at a uranium atom, the atom split into parts that didn’t equal the original atom’s mass. At the time the result provided a mystery: Where did that missing mass go? Using Einstein’s famous formula—E=mc2—researchers soon realized the mass had been converted to energy. Within eight years, the world’s first nuclear reactor was constructed on a squash court at the University of Chicago. On Dec. 2, 1942, a self-sustaining nuclear reaction was triggered, and the age of nuclear power began.
Today’s nuclear reactors, while utilizing the same physics, are far more sophisticated. Called “light water reactors” (simply because they use ordinary water as a coolant), they churn out electricity with heat created by interactions with uranium fuel rods.
Co-ops on Leading Edge
The first generation of these reactors was built in the 1960s largely for demonstration and research purposes. Two generation and transmission co-ops (G&Ts) were actually a part of this groundbreaking effort: La Crosse, Wis.-based Dairyland Power Cooperative built a 50-MW reactor, while a predecessor to Maple Grove, Minn.-based Great River Energy brought a 22-MW unit on-line. Neither remains operational today, although with no national repository for nuclear waste available, Dairyland Power must continue to maintain its plant as a waste-storage facility.
Although less than 3 percent of the nation’s electricity was produced by nuclear power in 1971, by 1988 that share had grown to account for more than 19 percent of the nation’s power supply, where it remains today (behind coal at 49 percent and natural gas at 22 percent). For electric co-ops, 15 percent of all power requirements are supplied by nuclear facilities.
All nuclear plants currently operating in the U.S. rely on second-generation technology and were built during a 15-year spurt that spanned the late 1960s to the early 1980s. Nuclear power, though, lost its luster following the Three Mile Island accident in March 1979: Safety retrofits required by regulators increased construction costs, and lagging electricity growth led to a major public pushback. As a result, no new nuclear plants have been ordered and built from scratch since 1973.
The last new reactor to become operational was the long-delayed Watts Bar Unit 1 in 1996 operated by Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. In 2007, TVA restarted its 1,200-MW Brown Ferry Unit 1 reactor in northern Alabama after a five-year, $1.8 billion refurbishing project.
A Second Look
But increasing fossil fuel prices coupled with potential federal fees on carbon emissions have utilities taking a second look at nuclear power.
“The feeling is that these factors, which directly impact prices, will make nuclear competitive once more,” explains John Holt, senior principal, generation & fuels at the Arlington, Va.-based National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA).
Currently, utilities are seeking to break ground on 26 new reactors in 16 states, mostly in the South, with another 11 in the planning stages. These plants will draw on third-generation technology that includes more cost-effective standardized designs, more power output, and significant safety improvements over the boiling water and pressurized water reactors used today.
For example, the facilities will reduce the potential for human error by having digital control rooms as well as emergency systems that use gravity or water flow to open and close valves to cool reactor cores. Many emergency cooling systems in older plants rely on pumps and diesel generators to do the job.
“I don’t expect to see all 37 plants currently in the wings to be built,” Holt emphasizes. “There are a lot of potential roadblocks in the permitting process. But I could easily conceive of 10 to 15 being built. That’s a huge change compared with the last 30 years.”
Two G&Ts currently own a share of reactors that could, if built, be a part of the third-generation nuclear boom. Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, based in Glen Allen, Va., is pursuing an 11.6-percent share of a proposed new nuclear reactor at North Anna Power Station. The new reactor will have a capacity of 1,520 megawatts, adding to 1,806 MW already generated by two existing reactors at the site.
Oglethorpe Power Corporation, based in Tucker, Ga., owns a 30-percent share of the Alvin W. Vogtle Nuclear Plant, with a current capacity of 2,320 MW. An application has been submitted for two additional 1,000 MW reactors.
Upping Commitment
And while third-generation nuclear plants are planned and built, research on the fourth generation has already begun. A recent report co-authored by Idaho National Laboratory and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), a non-profit, utility-sponsored consortium whose members include electric co-ops, outlines a series of goals to meet an aggressive increase in nuclear generation. More than 40 percent of the nation’s electricity could be produced by nuclear power plants by 2050, according to the report.
“The report recommends that research and development be focused in three technical areas: light water reactors, high-temperature reactors, and advanced fuel cycles,” remarks Chris Larsen, EPRI vice president of the nuclear sector. “In essence, it establishes a set of options for deployment of nuclear energy through this century.”
The report anticipates a needed $3.5 billion in research and development funding from both government and private industry during the next five years.
In 2009, $354 million went to nuclear research and development, split evenly between federal allocations and funding from private industry. Although 2010 budget numbers aren’t set, the U.S. Department of Energy alone has requested $383 million—half for fuel cycle research and half for research towards fourth-generation reactors. Private industry sources have proposed putting up $121 million with hopes of a federal match.
“You have to remember, this is a global market,” NRECA’s Holt relates. “Nuclear reactors are under construction worldwide. Even though the United States stopped building reactors 30 years ago, other countries didn’t. The companies designing these plants—primarily General Electric, Westinghouse, and French government-owned Areva—have been putting their own money into reactor advancements for years.”
Most analysts agree that fourth-generation nuclear power plants should be an available option by 2030. Although no major breakthroughs in the basic principles of nuclear generation are expected, the new stations will boast more computer control and be able to operate at higher temperatures and higher pressures, making them more efficient overall.
“My expectation is that the fourth-generation nuclear power will further improve on technology available today,” Holt speculates. “It will be an evolution, not a revolution.”—Scott Gates, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
Sources: Electric Power Research Institute, U.S. Department of Energy, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Nuclear Energy Institute, Idaho National Laboratory
A T-shirt design shows the state co-op delegations Wisconsin students toured with at this year’s Washington, D.C., youth program.
Lyndon Johnson had pressing matters demanding his attention on that March 1957 morning. Renewed hostilities in the Middle East and fears of rising Soviet influence there were prompting U.S. officials to consider military intervention, and as Senate majority leader, Johnson was in the thick of decision making.
Still, the Texas senator took the time and flew to Chicago, hopping a helicopter that took him from Midway Airport to a landing pad atop the then-world’s tallest hotel, the Conrad Hilton. Assembled there were delegates and guests attending the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) annual meeting, and despite the tug of an international crisis, Johnson spoke at length with his rural friends, emphasizing cooperative themes.
“In unity there is strength. In division there is danger, not only for our country, our community, but particularly for your organization,” Johnson told co-op leaders, describing NRECA as “the biggest and best and most effective farm organization in the United States.”
Getting the Message
Johnson’s assertion about the rural electrification program’s breadth and unity weren’t lost on 10 high school boys attending the conference as guests of a Wisconsin electric cooperative. “I never knew there were so many members from so many different places,” one youth exclaimed. “I never knew so many people worked so hard to bring us better service,” declared another. As it turned out, generations of high school youth across the country would learn those same lessons and also enjoy lingering benefits of another Johnson remark that day where he urged cooperatives “to send youngsters to the nation’s capital where they can actually see what the flag stands for and represents.”
Sparked by his suggestion, some states on their own immediately arranged for groups of students from co-op areas to experience Washington, D.C., and since 1964, NRECA has coordinated the Rural Electric Youth Tour in order to rally all state youth delegations there the same week.
High school students from Wisconsin—competitively selected by individual co-ops or given the opportunity because of election as statewide youth board members—first became part of the national tour a couple of decades ago, and it was evident from the outset that there were advantages to the time-honored principle of cooperation among cooperatives. For instance, to gain economies of scale in organizing meaningful, cost-effective tours of the place our federal government calls home, Wisconsin partnered with relatively small co-op delegations from several other states to fill tour buses and spread costs.
Strength in Numbers
This year marked 52 since Lyndon Johnson’s inspiring speech and 45 since inauguration of the national Rural Electric Youth Tour. As Wisconsin’s students in June sat with more than 1,500 other youth delegates from co-op areas across the country, they witnessed first hand the unifying strength Johnson described and another generation of Wisconsin youth observed in 1957.
Ah, gardens: lovely stops that let restless souls find tranquility and absorb nature’s wonders. But gardens are also so much more. Large or small, they offer beauty for the sight, smell, and even touch. They offer brilliant jolts of nature’s brightest colors and textures on a ho-hum day and nature’s most soothing colors and textures on the days that need to be calmed a little. They provide food for the hungry, even if just the bees and birds are recipients of their nutrients. Our gardens offer settings where humans can play or to learn more about their stewardship of the earth.
Perhaps you love gardens for all these reasons and more. If so, you’ll find such a spot in our state in the Rotary Botanical Gardens in Janesville. This extensive series of gardens holds something for everybody, from the most casual viewer to the dedicated student of botany. Rotary Gardens, a 20-acre non-profit attraction, is home to many dramatic and themed gardens. There are Japanese, Scottish, French, Italian, and English Country gardens. Also incorporated are less-formal gardens—shade, prairie, and woodland gardens, plus one of the few recognized fern and moss gardens in the United States. The gardens have garnered many national honors over the years. The gardens also change with the seasons, so there are always surprises in store no matter how frequently you visit. Even the color scheme of the entrance area changes yearly!
And you can afford to visit often. Though the gardens sell admission most days, there are one or more days each month designated as “free admission day.” Call or visit the web site for particulars.
The gardens also spotlight various bulb plants, such as daffodils. Other specialties, depending on the year, may be celosia, snapdragons, zinnias, and seasonal vegetables—tomatoes, basil, peppers, and eggplants, for instance
Would you like to play in the gardens like a child? There are many special “fun” events in the gardens. For instance, there’s a Garden Festival September 12–20, a Holiday Light Show in December, many scheduled musical events, tasting events, and other activities. Kids can play Garden Bingo by downloading a card from the web site.
Do you long for a small slice of garden to call your own? Even a few large pots on the patio can work. To get started, visit the Rotary Gardens’ plant sales in spring and fall. (This autumn’s dates are September 12–20, 9 a.m.–6 p.m.) Or check into the many classes held at the gardens for gardeners. Thursday evening programs coming up are “Horticulture IS Therapy” on August 13 and “Spring Bulbs” on September 3. You can also become a viable part of something bigger by volunteering to work on specific days in the gardens, caring for the plantings, or helping to make sales and special events even more successful,
To broaden your horizons, sign up to tour other notable gardens. For instance, the Rotary Gardens will sponsor a trip to Iowa gardens August 28–30.
No matter what your main reason for frequenting Rotary Gardens, you will benefit from all its virtues. Open up your mind to Mother Nature soon for a refreshing and instructional interlude.—Linda Hilton
For more information about the Rotary Botanical Gardens in Janesville, as well as photos of the gardens, the hours the attraction is open, the schedule of special events, and the educational classes for potential gardeners, visit www,rotarygardens,org or call 608/752-3885. The gardens are located at 1455 Palmer Dr., Janesville, and can be accessed from Interstate 90 by taking Wisconsin Exit 175A and following the signs.
