[NukeNet] Commission chairman suggests building a [nuclear] power plant in Fresno

[MJ]

Here's a little longer, more involved story from the Fresno Bee. They do
mention the law that forbids new nukes in CA in this one. MoJo

http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/12533160p-13246664c.html
Utility official thinks nuclear
Commission chairman suggests building a power plant in Fresno.
By George Hostetter / The Fresno Bee

(Updated Wednesday, August 2, 2006, 4:15 AM)

The Fresno Utility Commission's 11 members were directed by City Hall to
unleash their imaginations in coming up with ideas to fix the financial
mess at the Public Utilities Department.

Commission Chairman John Hutson has taken this broad charge to heart; he
wants the city to consider building a nuclear power plant at the city's
waste-water treatment plant west of downtown.

Hutson is urging the commission to study the feasibility of building a
400- to 600-megawatt plant as a possible long-term solution to the city's
energy needs and the utilities' money problems.

On average, one megawatt can provide electricity for 1,000 homes. 

Hutson says the plant could cost more than $1 billion to build.

The idea is getting a mixed reaction among some commission members and a
Fresno environmentalist, who says locally produced renewable energy is a
worthy goal, but nuclear power is the wrong energy source.

The waste-water treatment plant is the perfect site because of its size
(about five square miles) and abundance of water (about 71 million gallons
of treated water per day) for cooling the power plant, Hutson says. 

The power plant's electricity could be sold at little or no cost to
Fresnans, while excess electricity could be sold at higher rates to power
companies such as Pacific Gas & Electric Co., he says.

The result, according to Hutson: plenty of cheap juice for Fresno air
conditioners when the next heat wave hits, plenty of money to offset the
need for future utility rate hikes (he estimates the plant could bring in
hundreds of millions of dollars a year), and another environmentally safe
use for the treatment plant's water.

The utility commission, created this summer by Mayor Alan Autry and the
City Council, is charged with recommending solutions for financial
problems at the Public Utilities Department. Autry appointed four members,
and each City Council member appointed one.

Hutson, one of Autry's appointees, says Fresnans should have an open
attitude toward nuclear power. 

"I think Fresnans are aware that we're going to have to do things a little
differently as we get to be a thriving metropolitan city," Hutson says. "I
think they can appreciate looking at this idea, seeing how well it's going
to work, and then make up their own minds."

Hutson says he's well aware of nuclear power's controversial past in
California and the United States. But, he adds, the times are changing:
Japan and France depend on nuclear power for much of their electricity
needs; nuclear power plants don't foul the atmosphere with greenhouse
gasses; and big strides have been made in plant safety.

"Those days of Chernobyl and stuff are things of the past," Hutson says.
"They're safer than safe. You could live right next door to them."

Kevin Hall, Sierra Club Tehipite Chapter air quality chairman, says Hutson
"is on the right track" in searching for reliable, affordable and locally
produced supplies of energy. 

But energy sources such as solar and biogeneration (tree prunings, for
example) are the way to go, Hall says.

"We could get there much sooner by using the renewable energy that's
available to us," Hall says.

One of the biggest hurdles to Hutson's idea is legality. 

The state isn't permitting new nuclear power plants until it can figure
out how to dispose of spent fuel. The moratorium on nuclear plant
construction in California dates back to the 1970s.

The state's only two commercial nuclear power plants are at Diablo Canyon
near San Luis Obispo (owned by PG&E) and the San Onofre Nuclear Generating
Station between Los Angeles and San Diego (jointly owned by Southern
California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric).

These plants generated nearly 13% of California's electricity in 2004,
according to the state Energy Commission.

It's hard to gauge whether Californians are ready for more nuclear power.

"Recent developments both domestically and abroad suggest that a revival
is taking place in the nuclear power industry," states "Nuclear Power in
California," a March 2006 report prepared for the state Energy Commission.

Yet, the report also notes: "There are no announcements of any plans or
public pronouncements of interest in constructing a new nuclear power
plant in California."

Hutson says he has told most commission members of his idea and plans to
pitch it at the next commission meeting Aug.9.

He emphasizes that he merely wants the commission to consider the idea.
The work needed to get a nuclear power plant built in Fresno would fall to
others, he says.

"If France can do it, by goodness, we can do it," Hutson says.

The reaction to Hutson's idea is mixed among his commission colleagues.

"I think it's something we should investigate," says Ashley Swearengin, an
Autry appointee. 

"We all came to the table to think about long-term solutions."

But two commission members worry that Hutson's idea will sidetrack the
commission from its more pressing task of figuring out whether Fresno
should raise garbage, sewer, water and community-sanitation rates.

Gunnar Jensen, appointed by Council Member Tom Boyajian, said he wasn't
sure whether Hutson was serious or "pulling my leg" when the two recently
discussed Hutson's idea.

"I think this is a very unfortunate distraction at a time when the
commission is just starting to come together," Jensen says.

Building a local nuclear power plant "is an interesting notion," says Ken
Newby, appointed by Council Member Brian Calhoun. But, he adds, "when you
mention the word 'nuclear,' you draw a lot of emotion immediately and that
can be distracting to the issues at hand. We've already got our hands
full."

Council Member Cynthia Sterling, whose district includes the waste-water
treatment plant, says she's "willing to listen" to Hutson. Among her
reasons: the recent string of 110-degree-plus days and the havoc it
wreaked on Fresnans' health.

Hutson says he has spent about 100 hours studying nuclear power issues.

He says that's enough to know there's a lot he doesn't know: for example,
the Fresno plant's exact cost (Hutson says it could be more than $1
billion), how it would be administered (a municipal utilities district is
one possibility), or how the legal and political hurdles would be cleared.

But, Hutson adds, he's read enough to know that Fresnans should take a
fresh look at nuclear power.

Says Hutson: "I've been accused of being a liberal, left Democrat. But I
certainly think this is something that deserves looking into." 

The reporter can be reached at ghostetter at fresnobee.comor (559) 441-6272. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
"I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace."
Bush, June 18, 2002 

"War is Peace"
Big Brother in George Orwell's 1984

Molly Johnson 
6290 Hawk Ridge Place
San Miguel, CA  93451
Cell: 805 296-0524

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