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Posted on 02/08/2012 5:28:05 PM PST by Libloather
OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Feds set to approve first new nuke reactors in decades
By Andrew Restuccia and Ben Geman - 02/08/12 05:42 PM ET
State of play: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is set to approve the construction of two nuclear reactors at Southern Co.’s Vogtle power plant in Georgia.
The approval, expected Thursday, would mark the first time that the commission has authorized construction of a new nuclear reactor since 1978.
Industry and anti-nuclear groups expect the commission to approve the license, a move that would allow construction of the reactors and conditionally authorize their operation.
The commission is slated to vote at noon Thursday on whether Southern’s application and the NRC’s staff’s safety and environmental reviews of the project meet requirements set out under the Atomic Energy Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
If the commission votes in the affirmative, NRC staff will issue the license in the coming days, according to NRC.
Approval of the license would pave the way for finalizing an $8.3 billion conditional loan guarantee issued by the Energy Department in 2010 for construction of Vogtle reactors.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu spoke cautiously Wednesday when asked if the NRC’s expected decision will prompt the department to finalize the loan guarantee.
“I would have to look at the details of the contract,” Chu said.
But he praised NRC’s expected approval of the license. “That is certainly good news in the sense that I do think nuclear power should be a part of our energy mix in this century.”
Not everybody is happy about the anticipated approval.
Nine groups critical of nuclear power — including Friends of the Earth and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy — said Wednesday that they intend to file a lawsuit challenging the decision.
The groups argue that the commission should conduct a new environmental analysis of the Vogtle project that takes into account the lessons of last year’s nuclear disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), a senior Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and a vocal critic of nuclear power, echoed the group’s concerns Wednesday.
Markey called on the Energy Department to hold off on the Vogtle loan guarantee.
“I think we are putting our taxpayer money at unnecessary risk given the unresolved safety issues and the lessons that have been learned from Fukushima,” he told The Hill.
hey look! union jobs!!
gee, how could anyone not predict this
and the inevitable cost overruns, extended contracts, and construction delays
of course, actually going online is another issue
Yeah, but what night? Between contract and court delays, construction time, and final licensing, I'm thinking that these units are unlikely to be providing power within the decade.
Oh, and none of the members of the opposition groups reap all the benefits of nuclear power and fossil fuels every minute of every day of their lives, right?
Oh, they do? That's what I thought. But as long as they're filled with self-righteousness, we'll have to ignore that.
In North Central Florida an additional nuclear power plant is working its way through the process. It will be located north of the current Crystal River Nuclear Power Plant, which currently is off line.
Maybe not. Georgia is a Right to Work state.
So tax payer dollars have to go on the line to build this thing that is suppose to be so great that nothing can go wrong. That should tell you something right there.
I know what the sentiment of this forum is. But how anyone could think that what happened in Japan can’t happen here is beyond me. It is insanity. You can’t just shut these things off and walk away. It takes months before you can even unload the fuel. Those who think that fate is never going to remove by some means the ability to maintain the cooling of any of these plants is just plain ignorant.
But then man is his own worst enemy.
this ought last to until about 9 am on Feb 9th, when the (p)Resident cancels everything - just like Keystone XL...
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