• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Energy Officials Say Nuclear Power Comeback Not Likely to Happen in Oklahoma

Posted on: Wednesday, 28 September 2005, 21:00 CDT

By Janice Francis-Smith

Nuclear power is making a comeback in the United States - but likely not in Oklahoma, say energy officials.

We're going to start nuclear again in this country, U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., told members of the Oklahoma State Chamber last week. But it appears other states have traditionally shown more interest in nuclear power than Oklahoma.

President George W. Bush signed a new federal energy bill on Aug. 8 that included incentives for new construction of nuclear power facilities in the United States - a project that hasn't been attempted in roughly 30 years.

The bill extends production tax credits to nuclear power and includes a provision intended to lower interest rates by covering up to 80 percent of the cost of a nuclear reactor if a utility defaults on a loan. The Bush Administration's nuclear power initiative, referred to as NP 2010, aims to get a new nuclear facility up and running by the end of the decade.

We limited the capability to slow things down, both on refineries and nuclear plants, with lawsuits, said Coburn. There is an absolute maximum number of days that you can delay a permitting process- I would expect people to start moving forward with those plans.

Some companies have already taken steps to move forward with nuclear energy projects. Entergy, an energy company that provides electricity for 2.7 million customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, announced plans Sept. 22 to build a new nuclear plant near St. Francisville, La. Baltimore-based Constellation Energy announced in early September a joint venture with French-owned nuclear reactor manufacturer Areva to seek a license for a new nuclear plant by spring 2008, with Bechtel Power Corp. designated to build upcoming plants.

Brian Alford, spokesperson for Oklahoma Gas and Electric, said the utility's economic development professionals are hearing buzz from all over the country about building new nuclear facilities.

We're hearing more from an economic development standpoint communities pursuing nuclear development, said Alford. Where these facilities used to be, I don't want to call them pariahs, but they were unwelcome additions to the community, now you are seeing - and we do have a track record now - communities are beginning to actually pursue potential nuclear development.

Nuclear power is not something OG&E can completely rule out, said Alford, but it seems unlikely the utility will attempt to branch into nuclear energy anytime soon.

Right now, our expertise lies in coal and natural gas-fired generation, said Alford. Nuclear requires a skill set that we have not developed.

The company decided in the 1970s that it would forgo nuclear development in favor of natural gas and coal, he said.

We looked at a variety of different attributes associated with nuclear - the cost of the build, the waste disposal, the varied issues that were associated with nuclear - and felt that the coal was, in fact, in the best interest of our customers, said Alford. And we believe that it has been a very good choice for our customers.

The utility did not make its decision based on the experience of Tulsa-based electricity utility Public Service Co. of Oklahoma, said Alford. Though PSO had already broken ground on a nuclear facility in the late 1970s, after a nine-year struggle with a citizens' political action group, PSO decided to cancel construction of the Black Fox Nuclear Power Plant near Inola, about 15 miles from Tulsa.

According to the Carrie Dickerson Foundation, named for one of the leaders of the fight against the nuclear plant, Black Fox was the only nuclear power plant in the country to be cancelled by a combination of legal and citizen action after construction had started. Local citizens feared waste from the nuclear plant would lead to birth defects and other health problems for those who lived nearby.

Coburn said great strides have been made in the industry to improve the safety of nuclear plants.

Third-generation nuclear is unbelievable, said Coburn. I trust first-generation, but third-generation nuclear I'd have in my backyard - I'd give them the land. What we have to do is quit using hype and start talking about what our needs are.

Our total energy production for nuclear in this country is 9 percent, said Coburn. The average in the rest of the western world is 27 percent. So we're already at a deficit in terms of being able to compete in a global market, because we've chosen to say this is not an option, and it has to be an option.

As the United States uses less nuclear energy than other countries, Oklahoma uses far less nuclear energy than other states. Howard Gruenspecht, deputy administrator of the federal Energy Information Administration, said the country as a whole gets about 20 percent of its electricity from nuclear facilities, while Oklahoma has none.

And it is likely to stay that way for the time being. No developers in nuclear energy have come knocking in Oklahoma just yet, said Matt Skinner, public information officer for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.

PSO has no immediate plans to pursue nuclear power either, said spokesman Stan Whiteford.

A lot of different things have all got to come together in just the perfect mix to make nuclear happen, said Whiteford. I think the political climate has to be right, the need has to be there, the cost has to be right, the site has to be perfect - all those type of things. And since there hasn't been a new license in close to 30 years, I guess, it's going to take something really special, it seems, to move forward in that area.

Source: Journal Record - Oklahoma City

More News in this Category