USA taxpayers up for huge costs as NRC approves 2 new and unsafe nuclear reactors

The safety of the reactor design has been challenged over many years. An engineering study commissioned by Friends of the Earth and other groups opposed to the project identified seven key safety areas, including failure risks for the reactor containment, cooling functions and spent fuel pool integrity

Feds Approve Unsafe New Nuclear Reactors Requiring Billions Of Taxpayer Dollars ENews Park Forest, Washington, D.C.—(ENEWSPF)—February 14, 2012. Despite the opposition of its chair, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last Thursday approved the first new construction of a new design of nuclear reactor since the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster in 1979. Friends of the Earth stated today that the decision to give the green light to building two nuclear reactors at Vogtle, Georgia raises fundamental safety and economic concerns.

The NRC ruling, the first such approval in the U.S. in more than 30 years, will saddle Georgians with higher electricity rates and leave American taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars — all for a dangerous energy source with a long history of construction delays, cost overruns and safety lapses.

“The license may be granted, but these reactors are far from a done deal. As in the past, expect delays and cost overruns, and rest assured that we will challenge the validity of this license in court,” said Damon Moglen, director of Friends of the Earth’s climate and energy project.

In a shocking dissent by NRC Chairman Gregory B. Jazcko against the four other Commissioners who approved the decision, Jazcko said that the approved designs did not take the lessons of Fukushima into account. “I cannot support issuing this license as if Fukushima never happened,” Jazcko told his colleagues. The approval grants a joint construction and operating license to Southern Energy for two new reactors at its existing plant south of Augusta, Ga. It is the first-ever such combined nuclear construction and operation license. The last construction license issued was in 1978 for a reactor at the Shearon Harris site in North Carolina. That reactor took nine years to complete, and three other units planned for the site were cancelled.

Southern Energy claims that the two Vogtle units will be completed within five years at a cost of $14 billion, but the history of such projects indicates that rosy projections of nuclear construction timelines and costs should not be taken at face value……. Major safety issues with the design of the planned Vogtle reactors remain unresolved, with the NRC failing to address key vulnerabilities. The safety of the reactor design has been challenged over many years. An engineering study commissioned by Friends of the Earth and other groups opposed to the project identified seven key safety areas, including failure risks for the reactor containment, cooling functions and spent fuel pool integrity. …… http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/science-a-environmental/30896-feds-approve-unsafe-new-nuclear-reactors-requiring-billions-of-taxpayer-dollars.html