[NukeNet] Nuclear plant idea takes hold - Group says it will seek power facility for Fresno, CA

[MoJo]

Nuclear plant idea takes hold
  Group says it will seek power facility for Fresno.
  By Jeff St. John / The Fresno Bee
  12/14/06 04:13:21
  
  
A group of Fresno businessmen announced Wednesday that they have formed a corporation and signed a letter of intent with a power-plant developer to explore plans for a nuclear reactor in Fresno.      But with a California law banning new nuclear plants until the federal government comes up with a plan for safely disposing of spent fuel — and with federal plans for such disposal in limbo — the Fresno group's efforts could well be in vain, anti-nuclear groups said.   Still, the backers of Fresno Nuclear Energy Group LLC are optimistic, noting that new federal incentives for nuclear plants and California's growing need for electricity sources that don't emit greenhouse gases could improve their prospects.      "We're not rushing," said John Hutson, president and chief executive of the new corporation. As chairman of the Fresno Utility Commission, Hutson first floated the idea of a Fresno nuclear plant in August. "We're convinced this will work," he said.      Hutson cited the
 economic benefits a nuclear plant could bring to the central San Joaquin Valley — thousands of high-paying jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues — as well as the role it could play in meeting California's growing demand for electricity.   The plan would be to manage the plant under a public-private partnership, he said, though he added that the details on how such a partnership would be structured is not yet clear.   The 2005 Energy Bill passed by Congress includes federal loan guarantees for up to 80% of the cost of construction, which would make finding financing for the project much easier, he said.      Hutson acknowledged the state's moratorium on nuclear power plant construction is an obstacle, but said advances in nuclear fuel recycling, or a resolution by the federal government on storage of spent fuel, could allow the plan to go forward.      "The moratorium was written 25 years ago," he said. "I think the technology has changed, and I think the
 subject needs to be revisited."      The plan is to build a $4 billion, 1,600-megawatt nuclear reactor that would be cooled with water from the city's waste-water treatment plant west of downtown, Hutson said.   His group has signed a letter of intent with UniStar Nuclear Development LLC, a subsidiary of Baltimore-based Constellation Energy, to design, build and operate the plant.   Current plans call for an "evolutionary power reactor," a new-generation pressure water reactor design identical to one UniStar is now building in Finland in partnership with the French nuclear power company Areva, he said.      Hutson said the design is much safer than the two nuclear plants now operating in California, at Diablo Canyon and at San Onofre. But, he said, even those older nuclear plants have strong safety records when compared to other industries.      "We want to make sure, first of all, that it's safe," he said. "It appears that it is at this point."   The other members of
 Fresno Nuclear Energy Group include Al Smith, president and chief executive of the Fresno Chamber of Commerce; Dick Caglia, a prominent Fresno businessman; Richard Egan, owner of Central Supply Co. and other businesses in Fresno; Bob Smittcamp, president and chief executive officer of Fresno-based beverage and frozen and canned fruit company Lyons Magnus; and Tom McClean, a Bay Area-based contractor and consultant.      Fresno Nuclear Energy Group has access to about $10 million, the amount likely to be required for the multiyear process of seeking construction and operation licensing from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Hutson said.      "The federal government says they will not take longer to decide on a license than it takes to build it, and that means less than four years," he said. With four years to license and four years to build it, that's at least eight years before the plant could possibly be built, he said.   Fresno Mayor Alan Autry, responding to
 questions during an online chat Wednesday on www.fresnobee.com, strongly backed the idea.      "I believe nuclear power holds great promise for the entire San Joaquin Valley," Autry wrote. "We must find a way to become energy self-sufficient."      But skeptics of Fresno Nuclear Energy Group's proposal said they doubted the plant would ever be built — and the key obstacle, they said, is the state's moratorium.   "I think the odds are close to zero that the moratorium will be lifted, and for good reason," said Carl Zichella, regional staff director for the Sierra Club in Sacramento. "There are so many other things we can do that are so much smarter than wasting time on nuclear power."      The Sierra Club would like to see investments instead in alternative energy sources like solar and wind power, as well as renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel.   But Per Peterson, a professor of nuclear engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, said that he believed
 that the increasing recognition by politicians of the threat of human-caused global warming could change opinions about nuclear power.      "Today, compared to the 1970s, we know that carbon emissions are a major problem that can have potentially very large environmental consequences," he said. Problems associated with "the disposal of waste from nuclear plants are extremely small, compared to what we're worrying about from carbon emissions."      The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which calls for the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, could add to pressure on state government to reconsider the moratorium, he said.      But David Weisman, outreach coordinator for the nuclear plant watchdog group Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility in San Luis Obispo, said another state law passed this year could put a further roadblock to new nuclear plants being built in California.      AB 1632 directs the California Energy Commission to
 assess the potential future role of nuclear energy in the state, including the costs and effects of storing spent fuel, he said.   Dealing with nuclear waste "is a question that the nuclear industry has had on their plate for half a century, and still hasn't answered," Weisman said.      It's also unclear what will become of the current federal loan guarantees for nuclear plant construction under a Congress controlled by Democrats. Some lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., have expressed opposition to such subsidies in the past.   In a 2003 announcement, Feinstein also laid out California's mixed experience with nuclear power. Of the six plants built in the state, four were decommissioned due to high operating costs and excessive risk, the announcement said.      But the state's two operating nuclear plants do provide about 4,400 megawatts of power, or about 20% of the state's supply, the announcement said.      Hutson, who said he supports investment
 in a wide array of renewable and alternative energy sources as well as in nuclear power, pointed to the low costs of electricity from the nuclear plant his group is proposing as another reason for optimism.    
  He cited the need for America to find alternative sources of energy and reduce its dependence on foreign petroleum. "We think this is a patriotic thing to do," he said. 

   
  The reporter can be reached at jeffstjohn at fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6637. 


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