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$Billions for the Watts Bar nuclear reactor could be better spent on renewable energy

Another Multi-Billion Dollar Nuclear Gamble for TVA Clean Energy Footprints, April 9th, 2012   Simon Mahan › Hot on the heals of the biggest Mega Millions jackpot in history, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has just upped its ante on a different game of chance: completing the Watts Bar nuclear reactor at their existing nuclear plant in Tennessee. TVA announced last week that the construction cost estimates to resurrect the abandoned reactor “were wrong.”

The initially proposed $2.49 billion reactor now needs another $1.5 to $2 billion to be completed, according to TVA. And remember, this is on top of the $1.7 billion that utility spent decades ago on the reactor before abandoning the project. Just as we highlighted last summer when the TVA board approved billions of dollars to spend on completing the Bellefonte reactor in Alabama, we don’t think this nuclear gamble bodes well either for TVA ratepayers.

That announcement (along with the news that none of us won the lottery) led some of us at SACE to wonder: What would you do if you had an extra $4 billion lying around? Here are a few things at the top of our list…

Purchase 3.3 million American-made efficient water heaters. For instance, the new General ElectricGeoSpring water heater (which is manufactured in Louisville, Kentucky) can cut electricity use by about 62% over standard water heaters…..

Build 1,587 wind turbines. That’s enough wind turbines to have a nameplate capacity of over 2,850 megawatts – more than twice as big as the proposed second reactor at Watts Bar. ….

Install 4 million solar panels. That many solar panels is nearly the equivalent of planting 26.5 million trees in terms of carbon dioxide reductions….

Build 800 miles of high-voltage direct current transmission line for wind energy. ….

One striking difference between all these other options (energy efficiency, renewable energy and electric cars) and nuclear power is that they are far less risky economically, and don’t have a historic default rate of 50%.

What would you do with $4 billion?   …. http://blog.cleanenergy.org/2012/04/09/another-multi-billion-dollar-nuclear-gamble-for-tva/

April 11, 2012 - Posted by | business and costs, USA

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