$14 billion to build Vogtle nuclear plant. If it makes losses, $8.3 billion loan guarantee from govt?

The Vogtle plant will cost $14 billion at least to build……..If things go as planned, the reactors will be making electricity four to five years from now. If not, the company is seeking an $8.3 billion loan guarantee from the federal government to cover losses.

Nuclear Safety, Cost Issues Loom As U.S. OKs Reactor, NPR, by CHRISTOPHER JOYCE February 10, 2012 The nuclear industry is celebrating the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s decision to give the go-ahead for a utility company to build two new nuclear reactors in Georgia, the first license to be granted for a new reactor in the U.S. since 1978. But last year’s accident at reactors in Fukushima, Japan, still clouds the future of nuclear power, as does the cost of new power plants.

Southern Co. will build the reactors at its Vogtle site in Georgia, where two older reactors already operate. Scott Peterson, vice president of the industry’s Nuclear Energy Institute, says it’s not a “nuclear renaissance,” but instead a “first wave” for new reactors….

Costs But demand for electricity is flat, and the price of natural gas, also used to make electricity, is low. The Vogtle plant will cost $14
billion at least to build. Peterson says that’s OK. Nuclear still has a place, he says; gas prices are unpredictable, and so is energy from
wind and solar…..
There are objections, however. A coalition called the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy plans to sue to stop the reactors. Alliance head Stephen Smith says the region doesn’t need a new plant.

Smith says the power company is motivated by a healthy profit margin
guaranteed by the state, “not because we need the power, but because
this is going to so help their bottom line by bringing this major
financial asset in.”

Japanese Meltdown

Smith also argues that engineers are still figuring out what went
wrong at the Fukushima meltdown in Japan last year. He says Southern
Co. might have to make expensive retrofits if the NRC requires big
design changes.

“We would argue that, not only from a safety point of view but also
from an economic point of view, that you need to get these lessons
learned incorporated in before you rush to build the reactor,” Smith
says.

Gregory Jaczko, the chairman of the five-member NRC, apparently
agrees. His was the sole vote against the license. He says he wants
Southern Co. to promise it will incorporate lessons learned from
Japan. But experts on the NRC staff point out that the new reactors,
made by Westinghouse, can already handle some of the things that went
haywire in Japan…..
Energy analyst Richard Caperton at the Center for American Progress
says its approval provides the nuclear industry with a shot of
adrenaline, but it’s also going to be a target.

“This is going to be an important test case,” Caperton says. “What we
learn form the Southern plant is going to impact what we do with
nuclear power over the next 10, 20 to 30 years in this country.”

If things go as planned, the reactors will be making electricity four to five years from now. If not, the company is seeking an $8.3 billion loan guarantee from the federal government to cover losses.
http://www.npr.org/2012/02/10/146672181/nuclear-safety-costs-loom-over-ok-d-reactors