Nuclear Energy Foes to Urge Scrapping of Power-Plant Bill

Sep 19 - Deseret News (Salt Lake City)

Protesters worried about nuclear power plants in Utah have promised to make their voices heard today in a legislative interim committee meeting.

The Legislature's Public Utilities and Technology Interim Committee meeting at the Capitol will consider draft legislation on recovering costs for nuclear power facilities.

The measure would allow a utility to recoup the cost of constructing a nuclear power plant even if the facility never produces electricity. The bill is fashioned after similar legislation passed in Florida and eight other states. Critics argue such a law could potentially be very expensive for taxpayers.

Supporters believe the state should carefully research the potential benefits of developing nuclear power, considering the abundance of natural resources available within the Beehive State and neighboring states like Arizona. In July, the committee unanimously approved a motion to proceed with legislation concerning the generation of nuclear power.

On Tuesday, about 25 supporters and members of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah gathered in the Capitol Plaza to call upon Utahns to speak out against the draft bill. They urged residents to attend the interim meeting, which starts at 9 a.m. in Room W015 of the House Building. The legislation is on the committee's agenda for 10:30 a.m.

The bill would allow a power utility to raise its rates soon, "before one kilowatt is generated," in anticipation of its costs in building a nuclear power plant, said Vanessa Pierce, executive director of the alliance, which goes by the abbreviation HEAL Utah. "You might not see those kilowatts coming to your house for 10 or 15 years in the future."

Pierce called investing in nuclear power a high risk "because of the surprisingly high number of failed and abandoned nuclear reactor projects."

Altogether, America has 104 working nuclear generating plants, but another 120 have been abandoned at a total cost of billions of dollars, Pierce said.

Also, the Public Service Commission and Utah residents would not have as much input into the process as they should because the bill would create a fast track for nuclear plants, according to HEAL. Pierce said the legislation would take money that otherwise could be invested in clean, home-grown power processes.

So far, she added, about 1,700 Utahns have filed a petition against the bill.

The more money the project costs, the more Utahns will be charged, said Roger Ball, former director of the Utah Committee of Consumer Service and a founder of the Utah Ratepayers Association.

"It socializes costs and privatizes profit," Ball said. "It's an incredibly bad bill for Utah electricity ratepayers."

Also on the docket today, the committee is expected to hear reports on the use of technology in public school classrooms, including plans for enhancing the role of technology and the role of network-delivered services.

E-mail: jlee@desnews.com; bau@desnews.com