Bush backs more nukes

 

Jun 22 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Dave Flessner Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.

American utilities need to build more nuclear power plants to help meet the nation's energy needs without contributing more to global warming, President George Bush said here Thursday.

In a speech to nearly 200 TVA employees and contractors at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant, Mr. Bush said "more electricity generated from nuclear power must be at the core" of the U.S. energy policy.

"Nuclear power is clean domestic energy," the president said after touring TVA's oldest nuclear reactor here. "If you are interested in cleaning up the air, then you ought to be an advocate for nuclear power."

Mr. Bush called the problem of global warming "serious" and said there "is no single solution to climate change.

"But there can be no solution without nuclear power," he said. "Nuclear power is the only large-scale, emission-free power source that is currently able to meet the growing need for electricity."

Workers here last month completed a five-year, $1.8 billion upgrade of the Unit 1 reactor. The Tennessee Valley Authority resumed power generation from the unit on June 2, more than 22 years after the reactor was idled along with other TVA nuclear units because of safety and performance problems.

Anti-nuclear activists questioned Thursday's celebration of a nuclear reactor that has generated power less than 10 of the past 33 years and which cost three times as much to fix as what it originally cost to build.

"It's very ironic that President Bush would choose this site to inaugurate the nuclear renaissance of the 21st century," said Michelle Boyd, legislative director for Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project, a group organized by Ralph Nader that opposes nuclear power. "Browns Ferry Unit 1 was the site of the second worst nuclear accident in the country. It's not exactly a shining star of success."

In March 1975, a fire began when a worker was checking for air leaks with a lighted candle. The seven-hour blaze damaged more than 1,600 electrical cables and resulted in stricter regulations for fire suppression in nuclear plants.

The Nuclear Information and Resource Service, another anti-nuclear group, said TVA didn't fully meet all the fire requirements even after its $1.8 billion of upgrades made at the Unit 1 reactor over the past five years. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the reactor restart last month under its enforcement discretion, NIRS officials said.

"If this is proof of a nuclear power resurgence, then the industry is in big trouble," said Michael Mariotte, executive director for NIRS.

NRC spokesman Ken Clark said TVA is in the midst of a three-year upgrade of its fire suppression program at Browns Ferry and other plants. In the meantime, he said the 120 NRC inspectors who have reviewed the plant in the past five years have made sure that it meets all safety standards.

Mr. Bush said the nuclear industry has improved its performance and the restart of the Browns Ferry reactor will add the first additional nuclear unit to America's power grid in more than a decade.

TVA's nuclear employees said they were encouraged by Mr. Bush's speech.

"Those of us who work at nuclear plants know that they are safe, reliable and low cost," said Jason Jackson, a design engineer at Browns Ferry. "But it was nice to hear the White House also say so."

Despite the advantages of nuclear power, however, no new nuclear plants have been ordered in the United States since the 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania raised concerns and regulations over the industry.

"It's one thing to restart a plant, and I congratulate your for doing that," Mr. Bush told Browns Ferry employees. "It's another thing to build new ones, and that's what we ought to have happen if we are interested in a comprehensive, sound energy policy."

The president said the industry has been hurt by "constant litigation and overly complex regulations."

With the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Dale Klein, in the audience, Mr. Bush urged regulators to help keep nuclear plants both safe and efficient.

The president said three new reactors will be needed a year to meet America's growing power demand by 2015.

"As we tackle climate change, it may be necessary to have even more plants," he said.

U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., applauded President Bush for coming to the Browns Ferry site and hailed TVA's nuclear power program as "the most productive and efficient energy system in America.

"The question is who is going to lead the renaissance to nuclear?" he asked. "The answer is TVA."

TVA Chairman Bill Sansom said the federal utility is positioned to lead any nuclear revival. In August, TVA directors are scheduled to decide whether to complete the unfinished Unit 2 reactor at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant near Spring City, Tenn.

"When you've been through the learning process that TVA has been through, I think moving toward another reactor at this point makes sense," he said.

By October, TVA and other participants in the NuStart Energy Development LLC consortium will submit an application to possibly build two new Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at TVA's Bellefonte site in Hollywood, Ala. TVA's new strategic plan calls for the new plant design at Bellefonte to be built by 2018.