I am not a fan
in any way of nuclear power using uranium protocols. The Thorium protocol needs to be put into
operation as a tool to sponge up all the uranium and uranium derivatives we
have produced.
In the meantime,
baseline grid energy needs to be produced using advancing geothermal techniques
that now include successful penetration of molten lava. That neatly eliminates the whole problem once
and for all.
An industry that
produces two serious international disasters and empties land for centuries
must be abandoned. There is no economic
model that is acceptable as Japan is now discovering.
A fusion
solution will finally put this nonsense out of business just as cheap natural
gas is putting the coal business out of business. Neither will last out the next two
decades. Yet the legacy problem will
support the Thorium protocol.
US Government
Issues Loans for the First Nuclear Reactors in 30 Years
All eyes are on Georgia to see if nuclear can launch
a comeback in the U.S.
February 20, 2014
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will travel to
Waynesboro, Georgia on Thursday to issue approximately $6.5 billion in loan
guarantees for two new nuclear reactors at the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric
Generating Plant. The reactors
will be the first new nuclear facilities constructed in the U.S. in about three
decades.
The terms of the loan agreement were tentatively
offered to Southern Company in 2010, but low natural gas prices, the Fukushima nuclear meltdown and a lack of a federal carbon policy have
hampered nuclear power. The loan guarantee was also sidelined by Solyndra's
bankruptcy, which rattled the DOE loan program.
Since becoming the head of the U.S. Department of
Energy, Moniz has repeatedly talked about small modular reactors, pointing to their benefits in terms of cost and
security. Last year, the DOE issued about $250 million to fund the
demonstration of the technology.
But the loan guarantee just issued is for more
traditional nuclear technology: it will fund a pair of 1,100-megawatt Westinghouse
AP1000 nuclear reactors. The total project will cost more than $14
billion, according to Reuters.
Georgia Power, which is part of Southern Company,
owns nearly half the plant. Oglethorpe Power Corporation (OPC) has a 30
percent share, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia owns 22.7 percent,
and the City of Dalton, Georgia owns just over 1 percent.
The loan guarantee is split between Georgia Power
($3.46 billion) and OPC ($3.05 billion) with a separate outstanding loan
guarantee for $1.8 billion that the DOE has until the end of July to finalize.
“The construction of new nuclear power facilities
like this one -- which will provide carbon-free electricity to well over a
million American energy consumers -- is not only a major milestone in the
administration’s commitment to jumpstart the U.S. nuclear power industry, it is
also an important part of our all-of-the-above approach to American energy as
we move toward a low-carbon energy future,” Secretary Moniz said in a
statement.
Despite Moniz's hearty endorsement of the project,
the DOE is just testing the waters. At one point, the DOE loan program was
looking at about $50 billion in loans for nuclear. Many will be watching the
Vogtle project for cost overruns and delays, which have already plagued the
project. However, Westinghouse claims the AP1000 is the most economic nuclear
power plant available worldwide because of its simplified design.
But some environmentalists are already questioning
whether the project can come in on time and on schedule.
“A high rate of construction cancelation and history
of massive cost overruns have caused Wall Street investors to shun reactor
projects,” said the environmental nonprofit Friends of the Earth in a statement. “Nuclear reactors are too
risky to finance, too slow to build and too dangerous to be part of a
meaningful energy solution.”
At the same time, other nuclear power plants are
closing. San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in Southern California was taken
offline two years ago after radioactive leaks were detected. The plant will not
reopen. Other nuclear facilities, like Vermont’s Yankee nuclear power plant, will also close later this year.
In Southern California, the closing of SONGS has
opened the door for more energy efficiency and renewable energy to meet the
capacity loss. In the Midwest, closing coal plants have also largely been
replaced by transmission upgrades, energy efficiency and
renewables.
In the case of the Yankee plant and others, nuclear
facilities are simply losing out to low-cost natural gas in energy markets. Additionally, any nuclear
plants that are reaching the end of their lifespan will either have to undergo
expensive upgrades or be retired in the next ten to fifteen years.
The two new reactors are expected to come on-line in
2017 and 2018.
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