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How I learned to quit worrying and love nuclear power
By Mike ThomasLevy County is too far north of Tampa Bay and too far west of Ocala to be of much use to anybody. And that makes it just perfect for Progress Energy. Here, out in the woods off U.S. Highway 19, the utility is planning to build what would be the state's next nuclear power plant. The estimated completion date is 2016. Locally, the only major controversy comes from neighboring Citrus County, which houses the utility's Crystal River nuclear plant and is miffed it isn't getting this one. The state of Florida is gung-ho, which means no major obstacles from the Public Service Commission or Department of Environmental Protection. Nuclear power is the only option available to meet Gov. Charlie Crist's ambitious goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A new state law will allow Progress Energy to begin collecting money for the $17 billion facility in advance. So the utility's customers could see a $9 bump in an average electric bill beginning in January. To speed up the federal review process, Progress Energy plans to use a next-generation Westinghouse AP1000 reactor. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission already has signed off on the basic design. The only way this plant does not get built is if Progress Energy makes a business decision not to build it. That I can make such a statement without being laughed out of the newsroom shows how far we have come in our view of nuclear power. Like other utilities, Progress Energy no longer will reinvent the nuclear power plant with each new facility. The industry now plans to replicate the same basic designs over and over. This cuts costs, increases familiarity and allows lessons learned at one plant to be incorporated at other plants. With the Westinghouse unit, Progress Energy will learn from the experiences of the Chinese, who will have the first ones running in 2014. What differentiates the Westinghouse from older plants isn't the reactor. It is the water-cooling systems designed to prevent it from overheating and melting down. Simply put, we've got the same engine but a much improved radiator. The old safeguards rely on an elaborate network of generators, pumps and pipes, all of them potential points of failure. Intense monitoring is required, introducing the possibility of operator error. The new plants will use passive designs that rely on forces like gravity to deliver cooling water. This vastly reduces the number of pipes and pumps, thereby eliminating many failure points and improving reliability. This also reduces costs and the odds of operator error. I would much rather live down the street from a Westinghouse AP1000 than a coal-fired plant. But the most compelling reason for this new facility can be found at the Crystal River nuclear plant. There, at the bottom of a pool about the size of an Olympic swimming pool, you can see all the radioactive fuel rods created by 31 years of operating the plant. And there is room for more. Producing an equal amount of energy from coal would create millions of tons of pollution, ranging from toxic mercury to greenhouse gases, spewed up the smokestack and dispersed around the globe and into the atmosphere. Nuclear power forces you to confront your mess. And even the small amount there is of it could be cut by more than half if this country decides one day to reprocess and reuse old fuel rods. Hopefully, like this proposed Progress Energy plant, that day will be coming soon enough. Posted by: john frum 2008-03-30 |
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