Metro

ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY

Nuclear Horizon

Demand for electricity in Israel pulsates.

Steven Haskell Bekhor
Special to the Jewish News

A

s part of a May 2 panel discus-
sion at Congregation B'nai
Moshe in West Bloomfield
about the role of technology in the State
of Israel and to consider its application
within the context of Halachah [Jewish
law], I discussed the future of civilian
nuclear reactors.
My contribution to the evening's discus-
sion entailed a description of Israel's rap-
idly growing demand for electrical power.
This 11 gigawatt demand, which has been
growing by 6 percent annually over the
past decade, has until now been satisfied
by imported coal as well as recently dis-
covered indigenous offshore natural gas
reserves totaling about 3-5 trillion cubic
feet.
Moreover, the state-run Israel Electric
Corporation intends to increase the pro-
portion of its electricity derived from nat-
ural gas to between 40-45 percent by 2020.
A drive to increase solar power usage to
5-10 percent is currently the vanguard of
Israel's quest for environmentally germane
alternatives.
Nonetheless, Israel's major anticipated
sources of electrical power for the next
couple of decades pose significant risks to
the environment.
Both natural gas, due to the leakage of
methane during production, and coal are
significant emitters of greenhouse gases.
In addition, coal-fired power generation is
responsible for the release of four times as
much radioactivity into the biosphere as
nuclear power generation from mining to
reactor operation to waste disposal on the

Literacy

Jewish community
joins Detroit schools
in boosting reading.

T

he Jewish Community Relations
Council of Metropolitan Detroit
(JCRC) is rallying Jews to enlist
in the Detroit Public Schools Reading
Corps.
A volunteer training session is sched-

18

June 10 • 2010

basis of energy equivalence.
For these reasons, I presented nuclear
power as a safe and reliable alternative
that does not suffer from the prohibi-
tive costs and land allocation require-
ments of wind, water and solar power.
Unfortunately, nuclear power is not con-
sidered an option
for at least 10-20
years, at which
time safer and less
environmentally
damaging fourth-
generation fission
reactor technology
may become avail-
able.
Though Israel
already operates
a 26 megawatt
nuclear reactor
at Dimona in the
Negev Desert, it is
not capable of car-
rying out a project
of this scale on
her own. The state
would therefore
have to buy an off-the-shelf reactor from
one of only two manufacturers, Areva of
France or Westinghouse of the United
Sates.
However, these companies are currently
barred from supplying the equipment
and know-how for constructing a reactor
because Israel is not a signatory to the
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons. The necessity of Israel's nuclear
deterrent must first be acknowledged by
the major world powers.
An agreement allowing the parallel

existence of both civilian and strategic
nuclear programs has already been secured
by India in 2008 within the context of the
United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy
Cooperation Act.
Should Israel eventually adopt a civilian
nuclear program, it would be adding to a
worldwide capacity
already approaching
400 gigawatts and
providing 2.1 percent
of the world's energy,
6.2 percent of its pri-
mary energy and 14.8
percent of the world's
electricity.
Many countries
already derive a sig-
nificant amount of
their electricity from
nuclear power. For
example, Japan and
the European Union
derive 30 percent of
their electrical energy
from nuclear reactors.
France, with 16 multi-
unit stations in use,
leads the world in furnishing its energy
needs using nuclear power, accounting for
80 percent of its electrical energy.
Within 20 years, Generation IV nuclear
fission power will be one of the safest
and cleanest commercially exploitable
energy sources with a full-energy chain
greenhouse gas emission factor from
milling, conversion of lower-grade ore,
enrichment, construction and operation
of nuclear power plants and reprocessing
that is comparable to wind, hydroelectric
and solar power and is two orders of

magnitude less than those associated with
fossil fuels.
Though building 250 50-megawatt
photovoltaic and concentrated solar power
plants could also satisfy Israel's energy
requirements, the development of such an
infrastructure would be time-consuming
and costly due to the rarity of such met-
als as tellurium and indium and would
occupy large tracts of usable land. A simi-
lar nuclear infrastructure would cost 3 5
times less.
In the event that Israel and the major
world powers reach an accord that allows
for the exploitation of its civilian nuclear
potential, while maintaining its strategic
nuclear deterrent, this relatively safe and
affordable energy may become available
far earlier than 20 years from now.

uled for 7 p.m. Monday, June 21, in Room
205 of the Jewish Community Center in
West Bloomfield.
The Detroit Reading Corps is seeking
volunteers to give an hour a week to help
young children develop reading skills. The
JCRC is calling upon member organiza-
tions and the rabbinical community to
recruit volunteers.
June 21 is the second training session
organized by JCRC for volunteers from the
Jewish community.
Those interested in signing up as a
literacy tutor will find more informa-

tion online at the JCRC homepage: www.
detroitjcrc.org . The JCRC also has estab-
lished a dedicated phone number, (248)
642-2656, to receive inquiries and to
solicit volunteer information.
The Detroit Free Press, in partnership
with the Detroit Public Schools, has called
for citizens to volunteer 100,000 hours col-
lectively to tutor reading in DPS schools.
Recent test scores showed Detroit school
children ranked the lowest in the nation of
participants on the National Assessment
of Educational Progress (NAEP) test.
The Reading Corps will not replace

existing literacy volunteer programs. JCRC
continues to operate the Detroit Jewish
Coalition for Literacy (DJCL), which plac-
es reading volunteers at various schools in
Detroit and its suburbs.
Detroit Public Schools requires back-
ground checks for Reading Corps volun-
teers. DPS representatives will be at the
West Bloomfield JCC to take fingerprints
and photos of volunteers for ID purposes,
including those who participated in ear-
lier DPS trainings, between 4:30-9 p.m. on
June 21.D

Israel's major
anticipated sources of
electrical power for the
next couple of decades
pose significant risks
to the environment.
I presented nuclear
power as a safe and
reliable alternative.

-

Steven Haskell Bekhor is founder
and director of the Michigan Plasma
Physics Research Institute, a small,
private research corporation in
Montreal. The Univeristy of Michigan
doctoral graduate is a member of the
American Physical Society and the
American Geophysical Union. The
panel discussion was held under the
auspices of the B'nai Moshe Men's
Club Israel affairs committee, the
synagogue's adult education com-
mittee and the Jewish National Fund.
The JNF's Ellen Rosenberg discussed
management of water resources.
Oakland County Commissioner
Stephen Schwartz, D-Farmington
Hills, discussed environmental prin-
ciples that descend from the Torah.

