NUCLEAR PROGRAMS SPUR INTEREST IN ENERGY CONSERVATION.

Electricity conservation savings can be achieved at costs far less than the cost of generating the same amount of capacity from nuclear power plants. Thus, conservation offers a solution to the high costs of nuclear power even after the construction bill has been incurred. Electrical efficiency improvements can also yield significant overall savings to consumers, states, and utilities by reducing energy bills. In a growing number of cases, the devastating economic impact of cost-overruns at new U. S. nuclear plants has prompted an examination of electricity conservation alternatives to 'supply' the power instead. This has occurred in response to the construction of the Grand Gulf nuclear reactor in Louisiana, the South Texas Nuclear Project in Texas, and the Braidwood and Byron reactors in Illinois. In the Pacific Northwest, conservation is now being emphasized to meet electrical needs, partly in response to the cancellation of four planned nuclear reactors. These and other aspects of the subject are discussed in the article.