It’s been 34 long years but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has licensed a utility to build nuclear reactors in the U.S. for the first time since 1978. Long after France decided to follow this course over three decades ago (80% of the electric energy in France comes from nuclear baseload units), the federal government finally, maybe gets this stark fact – we cannot effectively reduce carbon emissions without a nuclear renaissance.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s chairman, Gregory Jaczko, opposed licensing the reactors at this time even though he had earlier praised their design. Jackzo said “There is still more work” to be done to ensure that lessons learned from Japan’s Fukushima disaster last year tidal wave -are engrained in the reactor design, he told his colleagues.
By a 4-1 vote to approve all of his colleagues said the lessons had been learned and it was time to move on. “There is no amnesia,” said Commissioner Kristine Svinick, speaking for the majority and noting that the industry has been directed to adopt those lessons.
The licensing covers two reactors estimated to cost $14 billion that the Southern Company wants to add to its existing Vogtle nuclear plant in Georgia. Preliminary work has already begun and plans are for the first new reactor to be operating in 2016
.”This is a monumental accomplishment for MEAG Power, our partners and the nuclear industry,” said MEAG Power President and CEO Bob Johnston. “We are committed to bringing these units online to deliver clean, safe and reliable energy to the 41 participant communities that have joined this effort.”
“The NRC should be commended for their groundbreaking decision to approve these new nuclear units,” said APPA President and CEO Mark Crisson. “At a time when stringent environmental regulations are adversely impacting the existing industry capacity, this approval sends a strong message of support for the development of new, clean nuclear power to help meet our nation’s growing energy needs.”
Crisson also pointed out the significant role of public power, saying the consistently strong credit rating of public power utilities enabled the owners of the plant to obtain the financing necessary for the construction and operation of the new units.
MEAG Power owns 22.7% of the new units, with a cost estimate of approximately $3.7 billion. The other owners are Georgia Power, 45.7%; Oglethorpe Power Cooperative, 30%; and Dalton, Ga., Utilities, 1.6%. MEAG Power in 2008 entered into 20-year contracts to sell approximately 40% of its share of the output in the new units to JEA and approximately 25% to PowerSouth Energy Cooperative. Those agreements will help its 41 member utilities participating in the project to match future need with resource availability, MEAG Power said.
MEAG Power said it secured the majority of its capital funding for the new Vogtle units in March 2010 through a $2.62 billion public market financing, at the favorable net interest cost of 4.35%. Additionally, MEAG Power has been offered a conditional commitment of $1.8 billion in loan guarantees from the Department of Energy. The Obama administration has offered the project a total of $8.3 billion in federal loan guarantees.
Predictably, nine environmental groups immediately said they would challenge the license in federal court, alleging that the NRC is violating federal law by issuing the license without fully considering the lessons of the Fukushima accident. They plan to ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to order the commission to prepare a new environmental impact statement for the reactors. The Union of Concerned Scientists, perhaps the leading anti nuclear group that somehow says with a straight face it wants to improve nuclear safety not end nuclear power, very predictably sided with Jaczko.
“The project is on track, and our targets related to cost and schedule are achievable,” said CEO Thomas Fanning. Fanning noted, “There will be issues (from the Fukushima review) that apply to the U.S. nuclear fleet, but they apply much more closely to the current fleet, not this newest generation of nuclear technology.”.
The Obama administration has claimed that it supports nuclear power. Moving past the knee jerk opposition of the environmental lobby with the issuance of this license is the first clear indication that it intends to back up those words with concrete action. Hopefully the NRC has set the United States on the opposite path of the war on coal agenda of the administration’s EPA.
“This is a historic day,” the Nuclear Energy Institute said in a statement. “Today’s licensing action sounds a clarion call to the world that the United States recognizes the importance of expanding nuclear energy as a key component of a low-carbon energy future that is central to job creation, diversity of electricity supply and energy security.”
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has taken strong steps to improve safety at the 104 reactors in the U.S. In particular, better defenses against earthquakes, floods and fires are coming after Fukushima. Nuclear reactor structures are also designed to withstand a 9/11 style suicide large plane crash.
Part of Heartland’s resource portfolio is from the Cooper Nuclear Project located in Southern Nebraska. We’re proud of public power’s role in this project and excited at the possibilities that this new license offers for reliable, clean energy.