nuclear-news

“You can’t sell 14-cent power in a market where power costs 8 or 10 cents [per kilowatt-hour]. That’s why the nuclear renaissance has collapsed. If you can’t compete, you can’t raise money to build these projects,” said Mark Cooper in an interview, echoing his testimony in Price’s 7th District Court……..

The week-long trial before Judge George Harmond focuses on whether the state appropriately assigned 53,000 acre feet of water to the Blue Castle project. Closing arguments are scheduled Friday, but Harmond is not expected to rule right away…….

The suit, brought by Utah environmental groups and local water users, attacks the only issue in the nuclear controversy where the state exercises control. Should Blue Castle secure the right to suck enough water out of the Green River to supply a city the size of Orem, its proposal will rest entirely in the hands of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

To secure a water right, state law requires a finding that the proposed purpose is economically and physically feasible, is in the public interest, and financing is available. Blue Castle fails on all these points, according to Cooper, a fellow for economic analysis in the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School…….”The only states where [nuclear reactors] are being built is in states where the risk has been shifted to the ratepayers,” Cooper said. http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/56920646-90/nuclear-blue-castle-project.html.csp