Alabama Officials Lobby Hard for Next Nuclear Power Plant

[SoCalDem]

http://www.rednova.com/news/science/199110/alabama_officials_lobby_hard_for_next_nuclear_power_plant/index.html


Alabama Officials Lobby Hard for Next Nuclear Power Plant

Aug. 6--Three decades after U.S. utilities quit trying to build more nuclear power plants in the face of rising costs and environmental concerns, a bidding war of sorts is emerging among Southern states eager to land the next generation of nuclear power plants. State and local officials in Alabama gathered this week near the site of TVA's unfinished Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant to try to convince the NuStart Energy consortium of utilities and engineering firms to build a new nuclear plant in Hollywood, Ala. Neil Wade, director of the Alabama Development Office, said the state will offer tax breaks and other assistance to try to lure NuStart to build at the Bellefonte site. "We want to be aggressive and put in an incentive package that can win this project," Mr. Wade said during a meeting with NuStart officials.

Alabama will face competition from five other states also eager to attract the first major nuclear plant in decades. Construction of a new plant is expected to create 2,000 to 3,000 temporary construction jobs and permanently add hundreds more.

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NuStart wants states to submit their incentive offers by Aug. 15. Already, both Mississippi and Louisiana have said they will offer tax incentives to try to get the nuclear plant. The new design is intended to be simpler and less expensive than existing nuclear power plants. But after costly delays and project overruns in the 1970s and 1980s, most utilities are still cautious about committing to a new nuclear plant. Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said NuStart has selected rural, pro-nuclear areas to try to build the new plant but Wall Street has remained skeptical. "No utility is interested in building a nuclear plant without massive government subsidies," he said. "The new energy bill gives all kinds of tax breaks to the nuclear industry and now NuStart wants even more tax breaks from state and local governments." Dr. Smith said constructing a new plant "will create short-term jobs and long-term radioactive liabilities. "The economic development people are focusing only on the short-term job gains and not the long-term liabilities and terrorist threats these plants present," he said.

But U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said this week a new plant at Bellefonte could be a big boost for Jackson County. Mr. Sessions insisted that nuclear power can be clean, safe and economical. "We have 103 nuclear plants in the United States, and none has been started within 30 years," he said.

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By Hollice Smith and Dave Flessner

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To see more of the Chattanooga Times/Free Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.timesfreepress.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.

[skids]

1. We have 104 plants.

Go out during the day, look up. The only nuclear reactor we need is right there in the sky.

Billions of dollars in construction costs, millions in annual operations costs. Fuel mining, refinement and disposal. All that money, and for what, so we can transmit electricity over miles and miles of wire, losing 1/3rd to 2/3rds of it in the process. Again, for what, so we can pay the companies for the electricity?

How many home power cogeneration products would all that money buy?

[Massacure]

4. I did a post about the cost of solar in the environment and energy forum.

If I recall it would cost $13 trillion dollars to pay for enough PV sells, not to mention batteries, inverters, charge controllers, etc... It would easily be more money than the U.S. GDP in two or three years.

[skids]

7. Yeah, PV is only good for peak shaving.

Supplemental air conditioning is a good place for PV. Other applications where lightweight solutions are needed are a good market for solar. Barring PV price point improvements (5 years out) that is.

Thermoelectric/thermoacoustic arrays have a better future IMHO. Mirrors don't cost much, and neither do heliostats. Hot water tanks for non-potable water are not horribly expensive. The only part of such a system that really hits the wallet hard is the stirling engine and/or thermopiles, but that's just due to poor economy of scale.

[oscar111]

2. Dirty bomb, after terras fly into it

want that thing in your backyard?

nuke plants are great for terras.
And also fine if you want Chernobyl meltdowns, with clouds released.

Wind power.. eno in dakotas and texas to power the whole USA.

terra flies into a windmill, and what happens?

[Massacure]

5. Four foot high strength steel reinforced wall versus an airplane.

Wall... Airplane... Wall... Airplane... Wall... Airplane.

I think I'd bet the farm on the wall.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. They can have it.

Up here in NH we are still paying through the nose for the costs associated with the last nuke power plant built in the country.

[oscar111]

6. I feel sorry for nuke engineering majors, dont you?

all that study gone to waste.

well, sorta sorry. Not really much. Maybe a tiny bit. No, it looks like um, zero. Not at all.

PS only guy i ever met , majoring in N-engineering, was a cold , rude guy. In response to a joke i told. Never even got to nuke-issue-chat.

Just personal chance encounter. Perhaps not representative of the group at all. Just a bit of personal history. What are the N-engineers like that you have met?

[maxsolomon]

8. keep the waste in alabama, and i don't care

don't bring any more of that shit to hanford.

[SoCalDem]

13. The tragic part is that there are states fighting FOR it..

to garner a "few" jobs and a WHOLE LOTTA possible waste and trauma if there's an accident..

and whaddayahwannabet that energy costs will RISE..not fall..once the ink is dry on the contracts?

All of this INSTEAD of conservation, which DOES work.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

9. Bet most of the engineering will be outsourced overseas.

[VegasWolf]

10. I would certainly offer Alabama the nuclear waste disposal problem

if they want to house that!

[BamaBecky]

11. Oh no.......we don't really want this...must be a misprint!

Bama

[niallmac]

12. Since we're on the subject. How is the French Nuke industry doing?

I know they invested heavily in nuke power and standardized plants. Did the venture work out or do they regret it?

[SoCalDem]

14. From what I have heard, they are scaling back

...will look for an article..brb