OPPD Considers Coal Plant to Replace Cooper Nuke

["Jim Hoerner" <jim_hoerner@HOTMAIL.COM>]

[Coming soon to members of UnplugSalem and Westcan perhaps?  An 

environmentally-friendly coal burner.  See 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Know_Nukes/message/3067

for what you can expect of the latest and greatest clean coal technology.   

Shutdown a nuke, get fossil.  Wind and solar are not reliable baseload 

power.  How green it is. - JH]



Coalition file brief against OPPD plan

BY LARRY PEIRCE / Lincoln Journal Star



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A coalition formed to defend the future of Cooper Nuclear Station near 

Brownville continues to oppose a proposal for a new coal-fired plant near 

Nebraska City.

The Cooper Coalition announced Wednesday that it had filed its final brief 

with the Nebraska Power Review Board to intervene in the application of the 

Omaha Public Power District.



OPPD filed its application for the new plant in March. The plant would run 

24 hours a day, seven days a week and generate up to 600 megawatts of 

electricity.



The utility has predicted it will need an additional 300 megawatts of 

capacity by 2009. The utility serves a 5,000-square-mile area that includes 

Omaha, as well as Cass, Otoe, Nemaha, Pawnee and Johnson counties.



The Cooper Coalition is arguing that OPPD hasn't shown that a new plant is 

needed and that the plant threatens the future of Cooper.



"The coalition finds that the OPPD proposal does not meet the state's 

criteria requiring that new facilities must be in the public's convenience 

and necessity, nor does it prevent duplication of existing facilities such 

as Cooper Nuclear Power Station, located 20 miles from OPPD's existing 

facility near Nebraska City," the coalition said in a press release.



The coalition formed in April among community leaders and economic 

development specialists in six Southeast Nebraska counties, along with 

others from neighboring communities in Iowa and Missouri.



Jeff Hanson, spokesman for OPPD, said the coalition hadn't raised any new 

points. He said that OPPD has looked at the future needs for power, the 

price and the reliability of Cooper beyond a decade.



"We have looked at all options and we have found that by building that 

plant, it's the lowest-cost and most reliable option for our customer 

owners," Hanson said.



A new coal-fired plant would last 50 years, he said, while Cooper's future 

has questions.



"We don't know if Cooper is going to be around in 2014, but we do know that 

our customers will need additional power," Hanson said.



The coalition argued that Cooper would meet OPPD's future needs and that it 

is the most ideal source for base-load power generation. The $1 billion 

public asset, the coalition stated, would be paid for in two years, and 

engineers have said it has decades of operational life. NPPD, which owns 

Cooper, is working to reduce its staff turnover and resolve management and 

safety preparedness concerns raised by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.



Jed Wagner, director of the Nemaha County Development Alliance, which led 

the effort to organize the coalition, said the coalition is interested in 

more than just OPPD's plans for one plant.



"We simply need to see what type of planning they have done," Wagner said. 

"All these power districts are doing their (own) things like they've always 

done ... we need to be working together."



Wagner said the coalition is asking the board to look at the issue of power 

generation in a "holistic sense."



"People generally don't like change," Wagner said. "They like the way things 

have always been done. We're rocking the boat here in ways we feel are 

absolutely necessary."



Tim Texel, executive director of the Nebraska Power Review Board, said that 

OPPD, the coalition, Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska and Lincoln 

Electric System filed briefs on Wednesday. The board will decide whether to 

approve OPPD's application at its May 31 meeting, he said.



Reach Larry Peirce at (402) 228-1245 or lpeirce@journalstar.com





http://www.journalstar.com/local?story_id=6686&past=



--

Hold the door for the stranger behind you.  When the driver a 

half-car-length in front of you signals to get over, slow down.  Smile and 

say "hi" to the folks you pass on the sidewalk.  Give blood.  Volunteer.









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