THE NUCLEAR RETREAT

"Another One Bites the Dust!": Progress Energy may cancel two new AP1000s targeted at Levy, Florida!

admin — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 02:02:35 +0000

Graphic courtesy of Fairewinds Associates

As reported by the Tampa Bay Times, Progess Energy has announced an indefinite suspension of the construction plans for two Toshiba-Westinghouse so-called "Advanced Passive 1000" (AP1000) atomic reactors targeted at the greenfield (no old reactors already there) site at Levy, Florida. That's the good news. The bad news is that Florida ratepayers are nonetheless locked into paying "advance" charges for the new reactors on their electricity bills month after month for years to come, even though the reactors may never get built. Such "Construction Work in Progress" charges are illegal in most states, although have been made legal in such states as Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia in an effort to grease the skids for new atomic reactor proposals, at ratepayer expense.

By the end of last year, Progress Energy's 1.6 million Florida ratepayers had already made $545 million in "advance" payments on their electricity bills toward the Levy new reactors, or an average of about $340 per person. Progress Energy fully intends to extract yet another $555 million from its ratepayers in the years ahead, or another $350 per person, whether or not the reactors actually get built and fired up.

The Levy new reactors have been a case study in cost overruns. As the article reports, Progress Energy first estimated in 2006 that a single AP1000 would cost as little as $4 billion. The very next year, the projected price tag had jumped to $10 billion per reactor. A year after that, Progress added a second new reactor to the proposal, and estimated the cost at a total of $17 billion. But last year, the price projection had reached $22 billion for the twin AP1000s.

The project has also been a case study in schedule delays. In 2006, Progress said its new reactor would fire up in 2016. By 2009, Progress admitted the opening date had slipped two years into the future, to 2018. By 2010, the opening date had retreated yet further, to 2021. Progress is now admitting that the project won't open till 2027, if at all.

Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear engineer at Fairewinds Associates in Vermont and expert witness for an environmental coalition opposed to new AP1000s targeted throughout the Southeast, was quoted as saying "It's a dramatic strategy change (by Progress)...Now, it looks like they're retreating." Gundersen has identified a major safety flaw in the AP1000's supposedly "advanced, passive" design, which could actively pump hazardous radioactivity into the environment during an accident (see graphic, above).

Nuclear eclipsed by renewables in the US

admin — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:53:42 +0000

Renewable energy sources – including wind and solar – now provide a greater share of the US energy supply than nuclear power. According to the Energy Information Administration, both production and consumption of renewable energy were higher than nuclear power in the last nine months of 2011. The shift came despite a tough year for renewable energy which saw the implosion of solar manufacturer, Solyndra. In the equivalent periods in 2009 and 2010, nuclear held a significant lead over renewables but declined in 2011.

Fix 'em or shut 'em French nuclear safety agency tells EDF

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:16:34 +0000

The French nuclear safety authority (ASN) has told the country's national electricity supplier, Électricité de France, that it must invest billions of euros in safety fixes at the country's 58 reactors or choose to close them. A report issued January 3 by ASN said that the investment was needed to ensure French reactors could withstand natural shocks similar to those that precipitated meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant site in Japan. ASN president, André Claude Lacoste, said the agency would have to suspend operations at French reactors if EDF did not meet their timeline for safety fixes. "If EDF estimates that what we are asking for is so expensive that it does no longer make it worthwhile to operate one facility, it can decide to shut that facility," he said. EDF has estimated the cost at 10 billion euros. However, the French presidential election in April 2012 could change the picture again as Socialist opposition candidate, François Holland, has pledged to shut 24 of the reactors by 2025 should he be elected.

Fukushima further bursts "nuclear renaissance" bubble

admin — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 05:19:56 +0000

Images of Fukushima Daiichi's explosions -- like this one at Unit 3 -- were caught on live t.v. and broadcast internationallyIn a new report entitled "Nuclear Safety and Nuclear Economics: Historically, Accidents Dim the Prospects for Nuclear Reactor Construction; Fukushima Will Have a Major Impact," Dr. Mark Cooper of the Vermont Law School's Institute for Energy and the Environment compares the cost increases for new reactor construction -- due to increased nuclear safety regulation in the aftermath of the 1979 Three Mile Island meltdown -- to escalating costs that can be expected after the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. Cooper points out, however, the new reactor construction costs were already skyrocketing before the TMI and Fukushima meltdowns -- but the accidents accelerated the cost increases dramatically.

He concludes: "From a big picture perspective, Fukushima has had and is likely to continue to have an electrifying impact because it combines the most powerful message from TMI on cost escalation with the most powerful message from Chernobyl on the risk of nuclear reactors in a nation where it was not supposed to happen. And, it has taken place in an environment where information and images flow instantaneously around the world, so the public sees the drama and trauma of losing control of a nuclear reaction in real time."

Japan at less than 20% nuclear capacity

admin — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:27:58 +0000

With the shutdown for maintenance at the Takahama nuclear reactor, Japan is now operating at under 20% of its nuclear capacity. Takahama will be shut for four months but it is up to the local authorities whether or not it is then allowed to restart. If all local authorities refuse restarts, there will be no nuclear reactors operating in Japan by April 2012. Only 10 of Japan's 58 reactors are currently running. There is growing public opposition to the continued use of nuclear energy in Japan. A group of women (pictured) recently protested with a sit-in at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Tokyo.

France's "red green" alliance advocates near 50% nuclear shutdown by 2050.

admin — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 14:44:28 +0000

The two French opposition parties - the Socialists and the Greens - have agreed to campaign for the shutdown of 24 of France's 58 nuclear reactors by 2025 and the immediate halt of the oldest plant at Fessenheim. The Greens favor a complete halt of France’s nuclear reactors, which provide more than three quarters of the country’s power, while Socialist candidate Francois Hollande has called for the lowering of France’s dependence on atomic power to 50 percent by 2025. The announcement caused stocks of the French utility, EDF, to slide as much as 6.4 percent to 19.40 euros, the lowest since Sept. 26 making it the worst-performing stock in Europe’s Stoxx 600 Utilities Index on November16.

Inconceivable! That's what a 3rd MD reactor looks like to Exelon!

admin — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:19:49 +0000

John Rowe, CEO of Exelon, told reporters on November 9 that the idea that his company would construct a third nuclear reactor at Calvert Cliffs, MD, was "almost inconceivable." The two Calvert Cliffs reactors are owned by Constellation Energy which already withdrew from the project, leaving French partner, EDF, stranded. Exelon is about to merge with Constellation. EDF, as a foreign corporation, is prohibited by law from sole ownership of the new Calvert Cliffs reactor. EDF has been working to circumvent the law but the financial challenges were too burdensome for Constellation which opted not to move forward despite the promise of a loan guarantee from the federal government. Constellation withdrew due to financial concerns after the U.S. Energy Department asked for a fee of $880 million to compensate taxpayers for the risk they would take on a loan guarantee of about $7.6 billion, a fee Constellation said would doom the project. Read background here.

Japan joins Germany, Italy and others in preferring nuclear exit

admin — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:17:20 +0000

A new poll by NHK shows that 70% of the Japanese public want to reduce or abolish nuclear power in the future. About 2,600 randomly selected adults were polled nationwide over 3 days through October 30th.
1,775 people responded. According to NHK, 24 percent of respondents said all nuclear power plants should be shut down and 42 percent said the number should be reduced. 23 percent said the existing facilities should be maintained and 2 percent said they want more nuclear plants.49 percent of respondents said they are very afraid of another nuclear accident and 37 percent are worried to a certain extent.

Nuclear plans downgrade utility to junk status

admin — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:11:19 +0000

Moody's Investors Service downgraded utility Scana Corp. (SCG) to the brink of junk because of increased risk surrounding its large nuclear construction program, which is expected to be half-funded by debt. Scana (South Carolina Electirc & Gas) is building the AP1000 reactors at Summer in South Carolina.

Switzerland Upper House approves nuclear exit

admin — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 20:11:33 +0000

From AFP: "The Swiss parliament's upper house on Wednesday approved plans to phase out the country's nuclear plants over the next two decades in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan.

It followed a June vote by the lower chamber to back an exit from nuclear energy recommended by the government, which had earlier frozen plans for a new construction programme after the Fukushima atomic plant explosion.

Bern said it would count on the development of its already considerable hydro-electric plants and other renewable energy to make up for the loss of nuclear power, while not ruling out importing electricity." Read the full article.