ELECTRIC POWER 2010
There is a certain tentativeness about new nuclear power in the U.S. these days, a low-grade anxiety, as demonstrated by the comments made by electric utility representatives at May’s ELECTRIC POWER Conference in Baltimore.
One rarely hears the words “nuclear renaissance” anymore. When the phrase appears, it is often with an ironic twist. Gone is the heady optimism of the first few years after a Republican Congress passed and a Republican president signed the 2005 Energy Policy Act.
From Sprint to Crawl
The walk in the nuclear park envisioned by the enthusiasts for a revival has turned into a long, difficult slog. Once, folks talked about maybe 30 new reactors, following a jump-start provided by federal loan guarantees for as many as eight plants. More recently, some Republican enthusiasts, seeking a political wedge issue to use against the Democratic administration in Washington, called for 100 new nukes in the U.S. Now it looks unlikely that federal largess will bolster the prospects for more than maybe two new plants by 2017. At most.
The one federal “award” of a loan guarantee, some $8.3 billion to Atlanta-based Southern Company for two new units at its existing Vogtle site in Georgia, so far represents less than meets even the most optimistic eye. But no actual award has yet been made. The utility continues in long-running negotiations with the Department of Energy (DOE) over a final deal, as Southern Company executive Michael Smith made clear at the opening panel of the nuclear track in Baltimore, curiously titled “Shovel Ready.”
Neither Southern nor the DOE will discuss the negotiations, but the DOE on the day of the panel extended the deadline for a deal by another 30 days.
Southern’s Smith told reporters that his company definitely would go it alone on new units at Vogtle if the DOE loan guarantee falls through. Was he being candid? Who knows? It may have been a negotiating ploy. It may reflect company policy.
The most peculiar aspect of the “Shovel Ready” panel was that no new plants are truly shovel ready. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has not signed off on a full range of advanced reactor designs. None of the companies or utilities involved (the Tennessee Valley Authority, Unistar, Luminant, and Southern Company) has full NRC approval. Nor do they have the money in hand, as estimates for the cost of new units continue to skyrocket, now in the range of $7 billion per unit. One attendee leaned to a reporter during the session and whispered, “Shouldn’t they have had a question mark for the panel’s title?”
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