Building and Construction Trades Department chief Mark Ayers and Energy Secretary Steven Chu share a sense of optimism rising out of Georgia's red clay.
Ayers, who leads the AFL-CIO's building trades unions, understands the value of 4,000 to 5,000 construction jobs that will be created by the Vogtle nuclear energy project -- the largest construction project ever in Georgia. The two reactors, awarded federal construction permits last week, represent "a strong and unmistakable signal that nuclear energy will now assume an important role in a low-carbon energy future."
Chu, at the Vogtle site on Wednesday, reviewed for hundreds of workers the Obama administration's commitment to nuclear energy, and announced an investment of $10 million in advanced nuclear technologies research. Nuclear energy, Chu said, will have growing influence globally as nations confront a changing climate and increasing energy demand.
Southern Company already has invested more than $1.5 billion in two advanced reactors that will power about 1.5 million homes. Two existing reactors at Vogtle already serve 600,000 customers in the fast-growing Southeast market.
The region is the most hospitable to nuclear energy, with about one-third of America's 104 reactors in seven Southeastern states. The Southern States Energy Board -- a band of government leaders from 14 southern states -- recognizes the economic and environmental benefits of safely operated reactors: "Without nuclear energy, carbon dioxide emissions would have been 28 percent greater... and an additional 700 million tons of carbon dioxide would have been emitted each year."
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to vote in the coming weeks on the construction permits for two more reactors in South Carolina. In addition, the Tennessee Valley Authority is completing its Watts Bar 2 reactor in Tennessee, a facility where construction started many years ago but was never completed.
New reactors are becoming a reality in the face of low-priced natural gas for several reasons. Nuclear energy facilities are large, 24/7 power producers that operate at industry-leading levels of reliability. Around the clock production, coupled with low uranium fuel prices, results in low production costs for residential and industrial customers alike. That's an important economic driver for companies that are migrating to the Southeast, where regulated electricity markets provide stability and predictability in energy costs.
Add to that package of benefits the fact that nuclear energy facilities emit no greenhouse gases in the production of electricity and the prospect for powering electric vehicles, and one can understand the appeal to long-term energy planners.
Will Marshall, president of the Progressive Policy Institute, wrote last week that an expansion of nuclear power "shows that the United States is serious about meeting growing energy demand without pumping more carbon into the atmosphere. At a time when political support for some kind of carbon cap or tax has seemingly collapsed, that's an important sign that Americans aren't giving up on protecting the Earth's climate."
Given our troubled economy, public concern over climate change has taken a back seat to more pressing policy issues. Americans are more concerned about the safety and price of electricity options, but climate and environmental issues remain strong drivers. That's why 82 percent of Americans believe that U.S. companies should learn and apply the lessons from the Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan, but continue to develop new reactors to supply electricity here at home, according to a September 2011 survey by Bisconti Research Inc.
Nuclear energy, like all energy sources, has hurdles it must clear. The capital investment required for new reactors makes it difficult to build new projects in competitive electricity markets with today's gas prices. The industry also has suffered from decades of intractable federal policy on used fuel management. The Energy Department, which is 15 years in arrears of meeting contractual obligations to take used uranium fuel rods from commercial reactors, now will make recommendations to Congress to revamp the program. This is a political problem however, not a technical challenge.
The Vogtle project, featuring U.S. reactor innovation, is a significant signal of American leadership in nuclear energy technology, which the Commerce Department forecasts to be a $740 billion global market over the next decade. It would be shortsighted for our nation to cede this leadership, and tens of thousands of jobs, to other nations by not building on this momentum.
Follow J. Scott Peterson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/nuclear_policy
http://www.bradenton.com/2012/03/07/3923636/survey-americans-not-warming-up.html
http://hps.org/publicinformation/ate/faqs/radiationnuclearpower.html
http://energy.gov/situation-japan-updated-102111
http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/06/17/fox-japan-nuclear-radiation-killing-babies-philadelphia-deaths-rate-spikes-48-percent-radiation-detected-drinking-water-28441/
All you have to do is look at all the articles here, which contradict much that has come from the MSM and the pro-nuke lobby to see that almost everything the pro-nuke lobby has said has been a lie. Then I have to ask myself, who has the most to gain by lying? What does the average knowledgeable citizen have to gain by lying? Nothing. What does the pro-nuke lobby have to gain by lying? Well, if the public knew the truth about Fukushima and its fallout, especially the aerosolized PLUTONIUM, support for nuke power would drop to single digits, there would be a movement to end nuke power, and those in the industry would be out on the street.
http://enenews.com/category/coverups
http://www.enviroreporter.com/2012/03/rad-news-digest/
The nuke lobby is powerful, that is why.
http://www.enviroreporter.com/2012/03/the-endless-bummer/
Powering America answers these questions and more by pulling back the veil on nuclear energy and follows the men and women who work in America’s nuclear industry. Taking a behind-the-scenes look at uranium mines, nuclear power plants, and used fuel recycling facilities from across the globe, Powering America takes viewers on a journey through the full fuel cycle, showing how a simple piece of rock can power a nation, and ultimately our future.
http://vimeo.com/37974915
http://nukeproffesional.blogspot.com/p/nuke-accidents-civilian-and-military-99.html
http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/03/8-of-17-children-have-atypical-lymphocyte/
http://fukushima-diary.com/
It’s been nearly a year since the name TEPCO became synonymous with excessive corporate greed, mismanagement, fraud, government collusion, cover-ups, and reckless disregard for the health, safety and, welfare of the people of Japan, let alone the rest of the global community.
In that time we’ve witnessed the company defy Japan’s newly decreed anti-gang law, where the energy giant has been outsourcing radiation cleanup duties to numerous contractors known to have underworld affiliations. During the first few weeks of the crisis, we shook our heads in awe, as TEPCO chief Shimizu was “hospitalized” for something as lame as dizziness, at the same time the corporation was facing total financial ruin, and the country of Japan confronted its worst crisis since World War II.
We were shocked in disbelief when with the entire debacle was allowed to remain in TEPCO’s hands, even when it was more than clear, the company was in way over its head, as the entire world’s atomic energy overlords proved they never had any plan in place if something like a meltdown did in fact actually occur. And they still don’t!
We’ve seen the Japanese government demand the entire TEPCO board resign if they wished to receive yet another unwilling taxpayer supported cash infusion. A handout the country simply cannot afford............
http://www.japantoday.com/category/opinions/view/tepcos-liability-to-japan
Small Modular Reactors have a bright future!
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Energy Department and its Savannah River Site (SRS) announced today three public-private partnerships to develop deployment plans for small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) technologies at SRS facilities, near Aiken, South Carolina. As part of the Energy Department’s commitment to advancing the next generation of nuclear reactor technologies and breaking down the technical and economic barriers to deployment, these Memorandums of Agreement (MOA) will help leverage Savannah River’s land assets, energy facilities and nuclear expertise to support potential private sector development, testing and licensing of prototype SMR technologies.
http://energy.gov/articles/energy-department-announces-small-modular-reactor-technology-partnerships-savannah-river
Recent news about nuclear power plants in our region should be enough to show that the industry’s alleged renaissance is in trouble. Never seen before breakdowns and off the charts construction costs should cause NC regulators to scrutinize and question any further nuclear energy plans.
.......Crystal River – This existing Progress Energy nuke on Florida’s west coast has been shut down since 2009 and is expected to remain off line until at least 2014 – why – because the attempted replacement of the steam generator resulted in three separations of a building wall – each the size of a basketball court!
............Plant Vogtle – A report released this week by Georgia Power shows that two under-construction reactors in eastern Georgia near the SC border, are in deep trouble. Design flaws and the corrective action required to address them have already resulted in an eight-month construction delay
.........VC Summer – located near Columbia, South Carolina Summer is owned by SC Electric and Gas, Santee Cooper and the electric cooperative SCANA. There is one existing reactor and two more are under construction. Extra costs and construction delays are mounting for #2 and 3 because of “unanticipated rock conditions” for the foundation, design modifications and delays in receiving plant components.
http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2012/03/02/nuclear-renaissance-dead-on-arrival/
• The Project is on track and the targets are achievable. The Commercial Operation Date (“COD”) of Unit 3 is expected in 2016, and the COD of Unit 4 is expected to be in 2017
Doesn't sound too deep... or in any trouble... I guess it's how you interpret it?
http://www.psc.state.ga.us/factsv2/Document.aspx?documentNumber=140695
http://www.workers.org/2012/us/georgia_0308/
"I commend the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for approving the necessary licenses to build and operate two new reactors at the Southern Company Vogtle site – the first new nuclear reactors to be built in this country in more than three decades. These new reactors will employ cutting-edge technology that requires fewer components than our current nuclear fleet, thereby increasing safety by providing fewer opportunities for things to go wrong during an emergency.
"Nuclear energy has helped curb our reliance on dirty fossil fuels and has helped reduce harmful air pollution that damages health and causes climate change. Currently, our nuclear fleet meets 20 percent of our nation's power needs with clean energy. However, most of our nuclear power plants are 30 to 40 years old. As our nuclear plants age, we must start thinking about how we will replace our nuclear fleet in the not-so-distant future. A renewed nuclear energy industry in this country means clean energy into the future and opportunities for American economic growth, with the potential to create thousands of short-and long-term good-paying American jobs.
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-Environmental_OK_for_laser_enrichment_plant-0103124.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120229-718991.html
http://www.ajc.com/business/vogtle-nuclear-project-tracking-1366388.html
http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=635c63fb-802a-23ad-4732-1497aa0b6aae