[ RadSafe ] New Nuclear reactor proposed for DC area.

[John Jacobus]

>From the Washington Post at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/20/AR2005052001557.html

You may have to register to read the original

(My only comment is that we probably need two new
plants, not one.)
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Calvert Cliffs Site Pushed For New Nuclear Reactor

By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 21, 2005; B01

A nuclear power plant in Calvert County is on a short
list of sites that could become the location of the
first nuclear energy reactor to be built in the United
States in 30 years.

The Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant, 50 miles
southeast of Washington, is one of six sites that the
nation's largest consortium of nuclear power companies
is considering as a location for a new type of
advanced reactor. The consortium, NuStart Energy
Development LLC, plans to apply to the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission for licenses to build and
operate plants at two of the six sites under review.

The new plants would be built next to the existing
ones.

This week's announcement comes as the nuclear power
industry and the federal government are trying to
increase support for nuclear energy, which flagged
after the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in
Pennsylvania and the 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl
facility in Ukraine.

Robert L. Gould, a spokesman for Baltimore-based
Constellation Energy, which owns Calvert Cliffs, said
new nuclear plants are an environmentally friendly way
to reduce reliance on foreign sources of energy.

"This process is the first step toward a resurgence of
nuclear energy as a viable and necessary fuel for our
future," he said.

But Jim Riccio, a nuclear policy analyst with the
environmental organization Greenpeace, said nuclear
plants pose a serious public safety risk. He said
Calvert Cliffs is even more dangerous than some
because of its neighbor: the Cover Point liquefied
natural gas terminal.

"Nuclear power was dangerous to begin with," he said.
"Now that you have suicidal terrorists that are
actually targeting reactors, we don't think this is
the time to construct new ones."

In Calvert County, though, opposition to the nuclear
power plant is minimal. Calvert Cliffs, which went
online in 1975, is the county's largest taxpayer and
private employer.

"Nuclear power doesn't scare me," said County
Commissioner Gerald W. Clark (R-Lusby). "The power
plant that's there now has been a great neighbor and a
great partner in the community."

Carl Crawford, a spokesman for NuStart, said the
consortium plans to select two sites by October and
file applications for both with the NRC in 2008. He
estimated it would take two years for the commission
to grant approval. The consortium hopes the plants
will open by 2015.

The consortium, made up of nine energy companies and
two reactor vendors, was formed to deal with the
tremendous financial risks involved in pursuing a
license for a nuclear plant. Constellation is among
the members.

Michael J. Wallace, president of Constellation
Energy's Generation Group, estimated that it would
cost $600 million to complete the design and
engineering work necessary to obtain a construction
and operating license for a new reactor. He said it
would cost an estimated $2 billion to construct a new
plant. The Department of Energy has agreed to pay half
of the license-related costs in order to encourage
applications.

Some opponents of nuclear energy say the cost
estimates are misleadingly low and predicted that the
federal government would be asked to cover the
overruns.

"They are intentionally low-balling nuclear
construction costs in the hopes that the American
taxpayer will bail out this next boondoggle," Riccio
said.

Crawford said the new plants would be simpler and
cheaper to run because of a new design to cool
reactors in the event of an emergency. He said a new
plant could produce up to 1,400 megawatts of
electricity, or enough to supply 1.4 million people;
current systems can produce only 1,000 megawatts.

Although officials made a point of saying that no
company has committed to building a new reactor,
Wallace said he hoped NuStart would select Calvert
Cliffs as one of the first applicants.

Constellation executives say there's plenty of room
for a new plant. Wallace said the current plant in
Calvert Cliffs is using less than 700 acres of a
2,300-acre site.

"We'd be happy if everything came together in support
of our site," he said.

© 2005 The Washington Post Company

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"Embarrassed, obscure and feeble sentences are generally, if not always, the result of embarrassed, obscure and feeble thought."
Hugh Blair, 1783

-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail:  crispy_bird at yahoo.com


	
		
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