Throughout the final 20 years, the aviation sector’s international energy-related carbon emissions have grown quicker than rail, street, or delivery emissions. Amid an pressing must transition this business to scrub vitality sources, Denver Worldwide Airport (DEN) has proposed a daring answer: nuclear energy. On Wednesday, August 6, airport chief Phil Washington and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston introduced they have been in search of proposals for a $1.25 million feasibility research of a small, on-site nuclear reactor to assist Denver Worldwide’s fast development. The small modular reactor would offer clear vitality to gas the rising demand positioned on airport property whereas assembly security and buyer expertise objectives, Washington stated in a DEN assertion. Following pushback from a member of Denver Metropolis Council, nevertheless, the airport has paused its plans. “There had been no dialog with myself, the council workplace, not one of the [registered neighborhood organizations], nobody locally about even the thought of a feasibility research, and nothing stated concerning the pure sources that is perhaps affected by that feasibility research,” stated Councilmember Stacy Gilmore throughout a Council assembly on Monday, August 11, based on Denverite. Gilmore represents District 11, which incorporates DEN.
Efficient Friday, August 8, the airport delayed its request for proposals to permit the neighborhood time to contemplate an outline of the potential venture, an unnamed DEN spokesperson informed Denverite in an e-mail. “Our purpose is to current this concept to the neighborhood, take heed to their suggestions, and perceive what they wish to see included within the feasibility research,” they acknowledged. DEN was the third-busiest airport in North America in 2024, serving greater than 80 million passengers that yr. The airport expects that determine to climb to 120 million by 2045. Based on Wednesday’s announcement, DEN has already put in 100 acres (40 hectares) of photo voltaic arrays, elevated its electrical automobile fleet, and constructed the most important vitality efficiency contract in Colorado. These are essential steps towards the airport’s purpose of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, “however we should plan now and discover all potential choices in order that we’re ready for the longer term,” Washington stated. He believes a small modular reactor would assist DEN meet its future clear vitality calls for. This compact, scalable know-how provides dependable energy across the clock—a big benefit over intermittent renewable vitality sources resembling photo voltaic and wind. It might generate as much as 300 megawatts of energy per unit, which is about one-third the capability of conventional nuclear reactors, based on the Worldwide Atomic Vitality Company. Washington stated small modular reactors may be “stackable” and “scalable” to extend capability because the airport expands, AVWeb reviews.
Not everyone seems to be satisfied. Based on The Colorado Solar, critics instantly raised issues concerning the airport’s nuclear venture, mentioning the absence of a U.S. repository for spent nuclear gas, excessive value overruns sometimes related to nuclear energy crops, and the truth that no modular reactors have but been accomplished within the U.S. In mild of those and different points, detractors argue that DEN ought to as an alternative give attention to increasing its photo voltaic and wind capability. In Wednesday’s announcement, Washington acknowledged that small modular reactors are a comparatively new know-how and emphasised the significance of the feasibility research. “We all know that something we’d do would require vital funding and that SMRs are complicated. So, we’re maintaining an open thoughts, studying extra and persevering with to responsibly plan for the airport’s future,” he stated.
Amid robust opposition from many neighborhood members, it’s unclear whether or not DEN’s feasibility research will get off the bottom. Mayor Johnston hopes the airport a minimum of has the chance to discover nuclear energy as an emissions-cutting choice. “We’re under no circumstances slowing down on all of our different formidable local weather objectives round renewable vitality,” Johnston stated throughout a Wednesday press convention, based on The Colorado Solar. “That is an investigation, it’s a research as as to whether or not we predict nuclear may be one a part of that puzzle.”
