nuclear-news

St George city decides against getting electricity from NuScale’s Small Modular Nuclear Reactors

City opts to withdraw from nuclear power project, keep options open, St George News by Mori Kessler March 27, 2015 ST. GEORGE – City officials discussed the city’s future power generations needs during a City Council meeting Thursday. The city wants to keep its options open as far as those needs are concerned, and for the time being, is backing away from an experimental nuclear power option.

City staff recommended that the City Council hold off on committing to a project by NuScale Power. Based out of Oregon, NuScale proposes to build compact nuclear reactors that would be housed in a power plant built near Idaho Falls, Idaho. The compact reactors are designed to produce 40-50 megawatts of power.

A permit application for the proposed project is slated to be sent into the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for review, and could take until 2018 or longer to be approved. If approved, the power plant could be built and operational by 2024…….

Though St. George is one of UAMPS biggest utilities, city staff have recommended against committing to any binding agreements, saying they want the city to maintain flexibility over where it gets its power. The cost of being involved could run into the millions of dollars, said Laurie Mangum, the city’s energy services director……

Other sources of potential energy the city could tap into in the future include solar power or hydroelectric power generated along the Lake Powell Pipeline. Also, through its existing contracts and city-owned power-generation facilities, the city has 70 percent of its base load power needs covered up to around 2024-25, Esplin said.

“We’re in pretty good shape for the next eight-nine years,” Esplin said…….https://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2015/03/27/mgk-city-opts-withdraw-nuclear-power-project-keep-options-open/#.VRXGyvyUcnk

March 28, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, technology, USA