USA Dept of Energy just keeps on giving finds to the nuclear industry
Department of Energy Further Advances Nuclear Energy Technology through Industry Awards of $19 Million,, Office of Nuclear Energy, MARCH 27, 2019 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced funding selectees for multiple domestic advanced nuclear technology projects. Four projects in two states will receive varying amounts for a total of approximately $19 million in funding. The projects are cost-shared and will allow industry-led teams, including participants from federal agencies, public and private laboratories, institutions of higher education, and other domestic entities, to advance the state of U.S. commercial nuclear capability.
Nuclear Bailouts – A Radioactive Cost to Taxpayers
https://www.cagw.org/thewastewatcher/nuclear-bailouts-radioactive-cost-taxpayers March 29, 2019 – 10:11 — Allen 
Johnson
On March 22, 2019, the Trump Administration took another step to act on the president’s campaign promise to financially support coal and nuclear power.
The Department of Energy announced that it would be providing a $3.7 billion loan guarantee to the Vogtle Electric Generation Plant located in near Waynesboro Georgia. That brings the total government financing on this project to $12 billion.
President Obama allocated an $8.3 billion loan to complete the Vogtle facility back in 2010 with the goal of constructing of the first new nuclear plant in the U.S. in 30 years. However, since President Obama’s initial loan, cost increases and delays (in part due to a contractor’s bankruptcy) have left the plant unfinished. Yet, taxpayers will now be forced to throw further good taxpayer money after bad.
Our March 22, 2019, blog highlighted how state-level bailout plans for failing nuclear power generation plants are gaining steam in several states, with the administration’s encouragement. The saga at Vogtle Electric underscores the hefty risk taxpayers would incur as bailouts continue across the country. For an administration keen on cutting wasteful government spending, an additional $3.9 billion loan undercuts that commitment and could be the first step toward a larger grid-intervention policy that will cost taxpayers dearly.
A July 19, 2018, report by the Brattle Group estimated it will cost taxpayers $34 billion over two years if every coal and nuclear plant in the country were bailed out as the administration originally proposed. That is a steep price to pay when those funds could be used for more practical measures like strengthening the nation’s energy grid, investing in cyber-protection technologies, or upgrading general infrastructure to bolster the nation’s natural gas supply.
To bailout a power plant that a private corporation has failed to keep within budget and on schedule brings this flawed policy to a new level. The latest announcement from Secretary Perry signals unnecessary political interference in energy markets. A corporation that cannot manage its projects properly doesn’t deserve a federal bailout by taxpayers. Taxpayer dollars are intended to serve the public, not support corporate irresponsibility.
$77 billion for U.S. Strategic Command for its NC3 – part of $494 billion nuclear weapons update
STRATCOM to design blueprint for nuclear command, control and communications, Space News,
The NC3 system includes terrestrial and space-based sensors that monitor the globe for threats, and a communications architecture that connects the nation’s decision makers to nuclear forces under any conditions. It is a classified system designed in the 1960s and 1970s during the height of the Cold War and is projected to stay in service for years to come. The technology is aging, however, and needs to be modernized so it can connect to the next generation of nuclear platforms the Pentagon is developing and expects to start deploying in the mid to late 2020s: the B-21 stealth bomber, the Columbia-class strategic ballistic missile submarine and the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent intercontinental ballistic missiles.
NUCLEAR WARNING: Radioactive contamination from Fukushima drifts to America
RADIOACTIVE contamination from Japan’s Fukushima Daichi nuclear power plant has drifted as far as America, experts claim. By EMILY FERGUSON EXPRESS UK, Mar 28, 2019
When a tsunami and 9.0-magnitude quake hit the Japanese nuclear plant’s reactors in March 2011, meltdowns were triggered at three of the plant’s six reactors. This resulted in radiation leaking into the air, soil and ocean – forcing 160,000 residents to flee. Radioactive contamination has reached as far north as a remote Alaskan island, scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Sea Grant programme announced on Wednesday.
Water tests collected from seawater last year near St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Strait revealed a slight increase in levels of radioactive cesium-137 attributable to the Fukushima disaster.
But scientists say the levels need to be more than 3,000-times higher to pose a safety concern……..
n September last year the Japanese government acknowledge for the first that that a work at the nuclear power plant died from radiation exposure.
The worker, a man in his 50s, had spent his career working at nuclear plants around Japan and worked at the Fukushima Daiichi plant at least twice after the meltdowns at the station.
He was diagnosed with lung cancer in February 2016, an official said.
The Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry had previously ruled exposure to radiation caused the illnesses of four workers at the plant. https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1106867/ukushima-disaster-latest-japan-nuclear-radiation-found-america
Illinois lawmakers ready t o subsidise nuc lear power stations
Illinois lawmakers move ahead with bill to benefit nuclear power plants, The Neighbour, By Cole Lauterbach | Watchdog.org, 29Mar19, Illinois lawmakers have set the wheels in motion to allow for power provider Exelon’s nuclear fleet, as well as wind and solar power providers, to sell energy to a state authority that opponents say will give it preferential pricing over coal and natural gas sources.
The nuclear industry mislead and misinformed the public about the Three Mile Island nuclear accident
Chaos at Three Mile Island
Public will never know truth behind Three Mile Island, anti-nuclear energy advocates say https://www.witf.org/news/2019/03/public-will-never-know-truth-behind-three-mile-island-anti-nuclear-energy-advocates-say.php by Ivey DeJesus/PennLive | Mar 26, 2019 The public will never know the truth behind some of the most basic facts about the nation’s worst nuclear disaster nor the actual amount of radiation that was released.Those were some of the messages underscored on Monday by the head of Three Mile Island Alert, an anti-nuclear advocacy group, and other advocates at a press conference in the Main Rotunda of the state Capitol.
Just days shy of the 40th anniversary of the partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Londonderry Township, TMI Alert’s Eric Epstein excoriated the nuclear industry for misrepresenting the facts of the accident, and in the process misleading and misinforming the public.
“Three Mile Island is an accident without an ending,” Epstein said. “There’s no bookends to it. If you look at the holy trinity of nuclear accidents, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima, we can probably pretty much tell you when they started. The reality is there is no ending. This is a funeral where the pallbearers need to stand in place for 500 years. That’s tough for a society that has the memory of a fruitfly.”
Epstein was joined by Tim Judson, executive director of Nuclear Information and Resource Service, and Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear engineer, who over the years converted from a proponent to an ardent critic.
Judson and Gundersen outlined the chain of events that took place on March 28, 1979, the start of the partial meltdown, as well as the levels of radiation released and subsequent impact on the health of the region.
Judson said the Three Mile Island story amounted to a “mistelling of history” of what could have been a preventable accident. He said that as a result of inconsistencies provided by the nuclear industry, the public was not given – nor will never have – a clear picture of the facts and the risks surrounding the meltdown.
Gundersen explained that because inadequate radiation monitors were in place at the time, officials were never able to get an accurate reading of radiation levels.
All analysis of radiation releases were based on mathematical corrections to estimates derived from off-site dose readings, he said.
“How much radiation was released? Nobody knows,” said Gundersen, who began a change of heart on nuclear energy in the 1990s when he served as an expert witness for plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Three Mile Island.
He is today chief engineer of Fairewinds Associates, an advocacy group for clean, renewable energy.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has long stood by its 40-year-old estimate that 10 million Curies of radiation were released. The NRC has also long held that the radiation released during the accident was well within levels deemed safe. The industry has reiterated that no one died or was harmed as a result of the accident.
Gundersen said that according to his own analysis of raw data, he calculated that 10 times that amount was released.
Epstein further excoriated legislative efforts to “bail out” Pennsylvania’s nuclear power plants, including Exelon Corp., current owner of TMI-1.
He said proposals to bail out the nuclear industry in Pennsylvania – to the tune of nearly $3 billion – were “fundamentally and manifestly unfair,” adding that Three Mile Island Alert categorically opposed any bailout.Proposed legislation would lead to the reclassification of Pennsylvania’s nuclear plants as “zero emission energy” and create new requirements on how electric companies purchase power.
Among the members of the audience, were several visitors from Fukushima, Japan, site of the 2011 post-tsunami nuclear disaster that led to the evacuation of a quarter of million people.
“The same (tactics) used to minimize the damage and risk of health is the same between Fukushima and TMI,” said Hiroko Aihara, a journalist from Fukushima.
She said citizen engagement has been pivotal in the case of Three Mile Island and continues to be so in the Fukushima aftermath.
“It’s very important to work together. To know we are not alone,” she said.
Aihara said the Japanese people – like residents of central Pennsylvania 40 years ago – were not provided with the truth.
“Many people are still suffering… about evacuation, radiation, contamination and economic situation,” she said. “We are still suffering or fighting the situation.”
Problems with nuclear safety after Three Mile Island
“I was on television telling people not to worry,” said Gundersen, whose wife was pregnant at the time. “I was telling everybody, ‘Don’t worry. No radiation got released.’ I think I said, ‘The Titanic hit the iceberg and the iceberg sunk.’ I think that was my comment at the time and boy was I wrong.”
But it took him about a decade to change his mind.
His conversion from proponent to nuclear whistleblower occurred gradually in the 1990s as Gundersen, among other things, served on nuclear energy symposiums and as an expert witness for plaintiffs lawsuits against the nuclear industry.
“I was on the other side of the argument,” said Gundersen, who sits on the board of the Fairewinds Energy Education, a Charleston, S.C.-based anti-nuclear energy nonprofit that advocates for renewable energy. “I would call myself a nuclear zealot back then as opposed to a nuclear critic now.”
Others come at the nuclear energy debate from a decidedly opposite direction. …
These days, Heather Matteson, who works at the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant in San Luis Obispo County, and Kristin Zaitz, who used to work there, are ardent supporters of nuclear energy. …..
Now 70, Gundersen, stands by his conviction that the health of untold numbers of people across central Pennsylvania was endangered by the Three Mile Island partial meltdown. Over the years in his testimonies, Gundersen has attested to a litany of factors, he said, contributed to the misrepresention by the nuclear industry about the facts of the accident, including the number of radiation plumes released, the amount of radiation released and the amount of radioactive waste that was released inside the reactor.
Gundersen said that because of the inaccurate assessments released to the public, subsequent medical studies on the impact of Three Mile Island radiation exposure were compromised.
“The plant wives pulled all the kids out of school by 11,” Gundersen said. “The plant staff knew how serious it was. Civilians, who trusted government, didn’t do a darn thing.”
The 2011 Fukushima Daiishi nuclear plant disaster in Japan has furthered fueled the debate on nuclear energy, reinforcing the public opinion chasm. Radiation particles from the plant, which was destroyed that March in the wake of a powerful tsunami, spread over an area the size of Connecticut. About a quarter of a million people fled the area……
A report published by Scientific America in January, noted some areas near the Fukushima plant continue to exceed five times the level of radiation set by Japan as safe for the general public. In certain spots radioactivity remains as high as 20 millisieverts, the maximum exposure recommended by international safety experts for nuclear power workers, according to Scientific America.
The debate goes beyond radiation and certainly includes arguments about uranium mining and radioactive waste. Nuclear proponents say that the mining of uranium levels a far lower impact on the environment compared to fracking, natural gas pipelines and other fossil fuel energy sources.
Gundersen argues that uranium mining exposes workers to radiation, and contaminates groundwater and aquifers….
Gundersen discredits the assessments released on Fukushima. He claims the nuclear industry used “identical tactics” to deal with that disaster as it did with the Three Mile Island accident, Chernobyl and even the Deepwater Horizon disaster. That includes downplaying the risks and telling the public it is in no immediate danger.
“The industry controls the narrative,” Gundersen said. “The orthodoxy very quickly circles the wagons and protects trillions of dollars of investment.”
Eric Epstein, chairman of Three Mile Island Alert, an anti-nuclear advocacy group, stands behind Gundersen’s assessment of the lack of transparency in the nuclear industry. Epstein says the industry will never own up to the dangers of nuclear energy nor the dangers inflicted on central Pennsylvania as a result of the Three Mile Island accident.
He says he remains resolutely cynical about nuclear: “We can all agree that there are no safe levels of radiation exposure. … But the industry can’t afford to acknowledge the truth. It would bankrupt the nuclear industry.”….
“It’s an orthodoxy,” Gundersen said. “The nuclear industry is an orthodoxy. What the high bishops say the lowly priests repeat. At the time I just accepted the party line of the orthodoxy.”
For Zaitz and Matteson, co-founders of Mothers for Nuclear, too much is at stake not to stand behind it.
“In college I learned about the biases we all have,” Zaitz said. “I started evaluating my beliefs and using more data instead on a feelings-based approach. I used that to examine beliefs about nuclear…..it aligns with my values about preserving the environment. The ability to use electricity on a tiny footprint with no emissions was something that made me challenge my views.”…. https://www.witf.org/news/2019/03/40-years-after-three-mile-island-accident-debate-over-safety-of-nuclear-energy-still-goes-back-and-f.php
USA Government Accountability Office to probe Saudi nuclear power talks
Congressional watchdog to probe Saudi nuclear power talksA congressional watchdog has agreed to investigate the Trump administration’s discussions about sharing nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia, according to people familiar with the matter. The Government Accountability Office, a non-partisan agency that conducts investigations on behalf of Congress, is in talks with lawmakers over the scope of a probe into the nuclear power talks that the Trump administration has held with Saudi Arabia. One person familiar with the discussions between the GAO and lawmakers said they were in their “initial phase”. In February, lawmakers accused White House officials of pushing a plan to sell US nuclear power technology to Saudi Arabia in potential defiance of legal restrictions. A report prepared for the oversight committee of the Democratic-led House of Representatives said Trump aides were attempting “to rush the transfer of highly sensitive US nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia”, which may have violated the Atomic Energy Act.
As all their “selling points” fail, the nuclear lobby jumps on the climate change bandwagon
Nuclear Energy Institute Seizes on Climate Momentum to Push for Policy Boost
“The answer to the climate crisis won’t be as simple as replacing carbon with renewables and batteries,” according to NEI’s president and CEO. Greentech Media
Korsnick argued that nuclear’s cultural capital is on the rise, helped along by concerns about climate change and calls for 100 percent clean energy, but she suggested the industry needs better federal and state policy to grow.
….. Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced $3.7 billion in additional loan support for the expansion of the Vogtle nuclear plant in Georgia. …..
Vogtle is a polarizing but important point of focus for the nuclear industry’s future. The Georgia expansion is the only large-scale nuclear project underway in the nation — another, V.C. Summer in South Carolina, was canceled in 2017 — and the first to be built in the U.S. in decades. It’s also billions of dollars over budget and significantly behind schedule, in part because key contractor Westinghouse announced Chapter 11 bankruptcy during construction.
……. Korsnick said more states should follow Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Illinois in allowing nuclear plants to compete as carbon-free sources or receive credits. Efforts to advance similar policies failed in Minnesota and are currently underway in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Though environmental groups have mixed views on nuclear, groups in both Ohio and Pennsylvania have spoken out against the support packages.
But Korsnick said a boost in conversations around climate action, the Green New Deal and state-level clean energy goals is bringing more positive attention to the technology.
“It’s this realization that 100 percent renewables — it’s not going to happen,” she said.
Not everyone agrees. On Monday, Puerto Rico committed to 100 percent renewables, joining Hawaii and Washington, D.C. Illinois is considering a similar measure. …. https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/nei-climate-momentum-boost-nuclear#gs.35vnl9
‘Near Miss” at San Onofre nuclear plant brings federal fine to the owners.
San Onofre Owners Face Federal Fine Over Nuclear Storage Mishap https://www.kpbs.org/news/2019/mar/26/san-onofre-owners-face-federal-fine-over-nuclear-s/, March 26, 2019, By Maureen Cavanaugh and Emiliano Limon The poor handling of a nuclear storage container at San Onofre has resulted in a $116,000 fine by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Investigators point to a lack of availability of important safety equipment as one of the factors during the incident.
The “near-miss” was reported by a whistleblower last summer at the shuttered nuclear power plant owned by Southern California Edison. On Aug. 3, a nuclear waste-filled canister was left unsupported on a storage cavity during transfer.
RELATED: Safety Inspector Describes Near Accident During San Onofre Community Panel Discussion
The incident temporarily shut down the effort to transfer nuclear material from so-called wet storage to dry storage casks on the San Onofre site. It also put a renewed focus on safety concerns surrounding the decommissioning of the nuclear plant and the storage of nuclear waste at the facility.
Climate change brings more extreme weather – Mozambique is drowning
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Cyclone Idai: thousands still missing in Mozambique Mozambique Is Drowning. Nebraska Has Flooded. We Need a Green New Deal. BY William Rivers Pitt, Truthout, March 23, 2019 The ocean has come for the coastal African nation of Mozambique. Tropical Cyclone Idai, a devastating storm that pummeled the country with fierce winds, was followed by a massive flood that has obliterated dams, swept away homes and bridges, erased roads, shuttered airports, and damaged 90 percent of the city of Beira, home to more than 500,000 people. There are bodies in the water and no one to collect them, making diseases like cholera an imminent threat.
More than 1,000 are confirmed dead, a number that is sure to rise. Thousands more are homeless and seeking refuge. “Many people were waiting for food, water and medicine,” reports The New York Times, “in makeshift shelters in primary schools and other government buildings.” Satellite imagery over Mozambique shows a new flood-made inland sea that is 30 miles wide in places. “We’ve never had something of this magnitude before in Mozambique,” said non-governmental organization coordinator Emma Beatty. To the west in Zimbabwe and Malawi, more than 100 people are known dead, hundreds more are missing and the damage is extensive. “There are at least three major ways that the Mozambique floods are related to climate change,” reports Eric Holthaus for Grist. “First, a warmer atmosphere holds more water vapor, which makes rainfall more intense. Idai produced more than two feet of rainfall in parts of the region — nearly a year’s worth in just a few days. Second, the region had been suffering from a severe drought in recent years in line with climate projections of overall drying in the region, hardening the soil and enhancing runoff. Third, sea levels are about a foot higher than a century ago, which worsens the effect of coastal flooding farther inland.” For years, stories of massive climate disasters such as these may have felt distant to many U.S. readers, but the climate crisis has arrived here, too. Eastern Nebraska Flooding – March 15 2019 A massive climate change-driven flood has transformed the middle of the United States into a bowl of soup. The waters have rolled down the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and inundated huge swaths of Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. Multiple towns in every state have been severely damaged, and thousands of farms that were already struggling have been scourged. On average, it takes about 28 days for river-borne floodwaters to recede, but repairing the wreckage left behind is expected to take years. Tens of thousands of people have been affected, and many are now without homes. “In case you were wondering, the climate crisis isn’t coming. It’s already here,” writes Charles P. Pierce regarding flood preparations at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha. “The one institution of government that actually believes that is the United States military, and that’s a good thing, too, because, in this case, the exaggerated effect of the crisis and the extreme weather that results from it — the blizzards, the ‘bomb cyclone,’ the huge snowmelt, and the flooding — has become the national security threat that the Pentagon has seen coming.”…….. The ongoing pushback against the Green New Deal (GND) by most Republicans and some Democrats highlights the degree to which our leaders are willing to wait until the roof caves in on us before they act. …… According to various polls, more than 70 percent of people in the U.S. believe that climate change is happening right now, and two-thirds of Republicans believe their party is out of step with reality on the issue. Activists like those in the Sunrise Movement are petitioning lawmakers to get it in gear, and are planning a traveling explanation tour through coal states like Kentucky and Pennsylvania to make the case that waiting is no longer an option. Let us hope their entreaties do not again go ignored. We are out of time. Nebraska can tell you all about it. https://truthout.org/articles/mozambique-is-drowning-nebraska-has-flooded-we-need-a-green-new-deal/ |
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Despite recently renewed licences, Texas nuclear power stations look like closing before long
Nuclear power woes extend to Texas, Houston Chronicle, James Osborne March 24, 2019 WASHINGTON – By the standards of the U.S. nuclear energy industry, Texas’s two nuclear plants are fairly new. Neither one is more than three decades old, while many nuclear sites across the country are nearing the five-decade mark.
But as the economics of nuclear power in this country continue to slide, even the futures of the South Texas Project, near Bay City, and Comanche Peak, located 60 miles southwest of Dallas, are far from certain.
When Manan Ahuja, senior director of North American power at the research arm of credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s, recently updated his firm’s list of nuclear plants at risk of closing, he listed both Texas plants at “moderate” risk of closing as early as 2030 – despite the fact that NRG Energy recently renewed its operating license for the South Texas Project for another 20 years………
The situation in Texas mirrors states across the country are grappling with, as nuclear power plants face increased pressure to reduce costs to compete with a surge of cheap natural gas and increasingly efficient wind turbines and solar plants. …….
According to S&P, over the next six years more than 10 percent of the nuclear power plants operating in this country have either announced they are closing or are at “high risk” of doing so – with another 15 percent at “moderate risk” of closure by 2033…….. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/Nuclear-power-woes-extend-to-Texas-13709604.php
Pro nuclear governor and lawmakers to bail out Ohio nuclear plants?
Bailout chances may be good for FirstEnergy Solutions’ Ohio nuclear plants, Crains Cleveland Business
Ontario’s govt about to sabotage energy saving systems, – in the interests of the nuclear lobby
Nuclear power company backs Ford government energy plan, Canada’s National Observer , March 21st 2019 Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government said on Thursday it will reform Ontario’s electricity system in a bid to reduce costs overall and lower rates for businesses, a move critics say limits the most efficient way to save money in the power grid and threatens thousands of clean energy jobs.
The plan, announced by Energy Minister Greg Rickford, confirm details reported exclusively by National Observer on Wednesday about a series of cuts to programs that were designed to save energy in buildings. …….
Environmental groups and opposition political parties say the moves don’t make economic sense, pointing to the IESO’s estimates that it costs more than four times more to produce nuclear energy than to conserve electricity, with nuclear costs likely to double in coming years.
The IESO estimates that it costs 1.7 cents to save a kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity while Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) nuclear electricity costs 8.8 cents per kWh and is forecast to rise to 16.5 cents per kWh by 2025 to pay for the re-building of the Darlington Nuclear Station.
“I’m worried that today’s announcement might set the stage for the abandonment of energy efficiency efforts while going all-in on expensive, outdated nuclear power,” Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said in a statement.
Rickford’s plan would also threaten thousands of jobs in companies working on energy efficiency projects, according to Efficiency Canada, a lobby group that represents companies that provide energy efficiency products and services.
Corey Diamond, executive director of Efficiency Canada, said that this field of the economy has the potential to create over 14,000 jobs per year.
“Energy efficiency is the best bang for the buck for the people of Ontario,” said Diamond in a statement. “Scaling back on programs means fewer local jobs in communities across the province,” he said.
The group representing local power distributors also criticized the changes, citing IESO data showing local hydro utilities had saved over 5.8 billion kWh, enough to power more than 640,000 homes for a full year.
Local distribution companies “have made a vital contribution to delivering savings to all customers across Ontario, including families, small businesses, farmers, medium and large businesses,” said Teresa Sarkesian, president and CEO of the Electricity Distributors Association (EDA).
Ontario NDP energy and climate change critic Peter Tabuns said he agreed that the previous government’s plan was disastrous, but said that the Ford government was about to make the situation worse.
“For years, families saw their utility bills skyrocket under the Wynne Liberals and were left struggling to make ends meet each month,” Tabuns said. “Instead of making things better, and dropping the disastrous Liberal hydro borrowing scheme, the Conservatives are ripping up programs that help everyday families save money on their utility bills, so families and businesses will see their bills jump, yet again.” https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/03/21/news/nuclear-power-company-backs-ford-government-energy-plan
Trump tried to close federal loan program, but now wants it to fund Vogtle nuclear station!
To Save a Nuclear Plant, Trump Taps the Solyndra Loan Program He Tried to Cut, Bloomberg, By Ari Natter, March 23, 2019,
- $3.7 billion loan guarantee a key lifeline for nuclear project
- Aid to Southern Co. raises concerns with taxpayer watchdogs
President Donald Trump is dipping into a federal loan program that his administration has repeatedly sought to kill as a way to rescue a struggling nuclear power project in Georgia that critics say poses a credit risk to U.S. taxpayers.
The Trump administration announced Friday it’s finalizing a $3.7 billion loan guarantee for two nuclear reactors being built by Southern Co. Called Plant Vogtle, it’s the only nuclear facility under construction in the U.S. and one seen as vital for an industry that’s lagged due to competition from cheaper natural gas and renewable energy.
“This is the real new green deal,” Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Friday during a visit to the site near Waynesboro, Georgia, alongside Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Southern Chief Executive Officer Tom Fanning. “If you want clean energy that helps your environment, there is no source that is cleaner than nuclear energy. This is it.”
The source of the aid is an Energy Department loan program that’s been in the cross-hairs of the Trump team since before his inauguration, when his transition team saw it as corporate welfare. Trump has asked Congress to ax the program for three years running, including in the budget submitted this month, arguing that financing provided by the fund should come from the private sector instead.
…….. The aid to Southern and its partners building the plant comes on top of a record $8.3 billion in loan guarantees inked by the Obama administration for the project, bringing the total amount of exposure to taxpayers to $12 billion.
That’s raised concerns among watchdog groups and critics of the project, which is supposed to be completed in late 2022, who are questioning the wisdom of more government loans.
“It would be a gross understatement to say this decision is fiscally reckless,” said Ryan Alexander, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a non-partisan group based in Washington. “Putting the full faith and credit of the U.S. Treasury behind a project after it’s been plagued by skyrocketing costs and multi-year delays is an unjustifiable handout to the well-heeled Southern Company and its partners. Throwing good money after bad is never good policy.”
Behind Schedule
The project, which is more than five years behind schedule and has doubled in cost to $28 billion, was dealt a major setback after contractor Westinghouse Electric Co. went bankrupt in 2017. Southern assumed responsibility for managing construction of the project after that…….. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-22/trump-taps-solyndra-loan-program-he-wants-cut-for-nuclear-plant
1 This Month
Read the Public Inquiry Report, the Commissioners’ report, Surrendering Australia: The AUKUS Deception is available to download for free at aukuspublicinquiry.com. Or just watch the replay of the National Press Club Luncheon.
19 November – Webinar – The Reality of Reprocessing
Time: 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada) / 2:00 PM Eastern / 7:00 PM UK / 8:00 PM CET
Register for the Zoom Event Here
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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