nuclear-news

Environmentalists try to block nuclear growth in Texas, Victoria Advocate By Sara Sneath  March 19, 2016 WADSWORTH – One of the largest nuclear power facilities in North America is set to double in size.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently gave the South Texas Project the green light to build two new reactors at its plant between Bay City and Palacios. The company is holding off on building the reactors because of low natural gas prices and a lack of demand for new energy in Texas.

But state environmental groups want the company’s licenses yanked. They say the licenses violate the Atomic Energy Act, which prohibits foreign control or domination of a U.S. nuclear project.

The reason why foreign countries are not allowed to control a U.S. nuclear power plant is to ensure that the country’s power supply cannot be held hostage by a country that could become an enemy in the future, said Tom “Smitty” Smith, the director of the Public Citizen’s Texas office……

Robert Eye, an attorney representing Public Citizen, the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Coalition and the South Texas Association for Responsible Energy, said Toshiba has been fully funding the pre-licensing proceedings for the new reactors since 2011.

“In our view, the entity who funds it then has the ability to control it,” he said. “And, in that regard, that’s an important legal issue because they may use this license at some point, or they may try to use this license at some point. And, in our view, it’s not a valid license.” https://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2016/mar/19/environmentalists-try-to-block-nuclear-growth-in-t/