Clean Energy Group:
2 Leading Experts Argue New Nuclear Reactors in Florida
Should Stop Now
TALLAHASSEE, Fla., July 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
A leading national expert on the financing of nuclear power reactors filed
testimony Wednesday with the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) in
which he warns that it is "not prudent" to proceed with plans for building
new nuclear reactors at Florida Power & Light's Turkey Point nuclear plant
near Miami and the proposed Progress Energy of Florida's Levy County site.
Economist Dr. Mark Cooper filed testimony along with Mr. Arnie Gundersen on
behalf of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, an organization that has
intervened in the case.
"The expert testimony presented by our witnesses raises serious questions
about FPL and Progress Energy's plan to build four new nuclear reactors with
Florida power customers carrying all the financial risk and utilities making
all the profits," said Dr. Stephen Smith, executive director of Southern
Alliance for Clean Energy. "The PSC and the legislature cannot give the big
power companies a blank check to build these risky facilities and not
protect bill-payers from the changing market conditions and the growing
uncertainty with nuclear construction. Failure to fully review and consider
this information will cost the state billions of dollars and set off a wave
of explosive rate increases. Someone must protect consumers."
In the prudency-review testimony submitted to the PSC, economist Dr. Mark
Cooper, a senior fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy
and the Environment at Vermont Law School, stated that it would be imprudent
to allow the companies to incur any more expenses or recover those expenses
from Florida ratepayers at this time. His testimony highlighted that
exercising this judgment before Florida ratepayers money is spent is
infinitely preferable to arguing about it after the money has been spent.
Dr. Cooper mentioned that both companies assert that, having reviewed recent
changes in the factors that affect the decision to build these reactors, it
is prudent to continue but their review of the changes now faced by these
plants is cursory and insufficient to justify that conclusion.
Cooper has testified over 100 times before public utility commissions in 44
jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canada on energy and telecommunications issues
and about twice as many times before federal agencies and Congress on a
variety of issues, including energy and electricity. He is the author of the
"The Economics of Nuclear Reactors," a report released on June 18, 2009,
which found that it would cost $1.9 trillion to $4.1 trillion more over the
life of 100 new nuclear reactors than it would to generate the same
electricity from a combination of more energy efficiency and renewables,
which Southern Alliance for Clean Energy supports as a better, less risky
alternative that the Florida utilities should pursue.
Cooper's testimony states, "The decision by the utilities to build nuclear
reactors was based on several important assumptions that have been called
into question in the past year and a half." Some of these assumptions
included that the utilities assumed a high rate of demand growth; they
downplayed the contribution that efficiency and renewables can make to meet
the need for electricity; and they used a low estimate of the cost of new
nuclear reactors.
The testimony points to the potential for increased energy efficiency to
significantly reduce the new need for new power generation. For example, ".
. .the technology of efficiency has come into much sharper focus in the past
year. Numerous studies of the potential for and cost of improvements in
efficiency in the residential, commercial and industrial sectors have shown
that large quantities of energy can be saved at relatively low cost. One
study was done specifically for Florida, which found that aggressive
policies to reduce energy consumption could lower demand by 20 percent at a
cost of less than 3.5 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) . . . This study shows
that the findings for other states and the nation as a whole apply to
Florida. For example, a major national study found that consumption could be
reduced by 30 percent at a cost of 2.7 cents per kWh. Thus, independently of
any regulatory mandate, as the technology of efficiency is proven out, the
Commission should consider greater reliance on it as part of the least cost
approach to meeting the need for electricity."
Commenting on his filing, Dr. Cooper said, "I have identified dramatically
changed circumstances since the certificate of need determination and
present new evidence on the marketplace, regulatory, financial and
technological risks of the reactors that lead me to conclude they are no
longer feasible and that incurring additional costs on these plants would
not be prudent."
Mr. Gundersen's testimony stated that it is likely that the proposed
projects will experience construction delays and cost overruns in the future
that will negatively impact Floridians, if these reactors are ever built. He
also argued that these delays were not properly accounted for by either
utility. Mr. Gundersen highlighted that these extra costs and scheduling
slippages will be due to licensing delays, worldwide material shortages, a
worldwide shortage of skilled personnel, and the fact that these nuclear
reactors are extraordinarily complex to build. He has a BS and ME cum laude
in Nuclear Engineering from Rensselaer (RPI), and was formerly licensed as a
nuclear reactor operator. He was a Senior Vice President of a nuclear
licensee before becoming an independent engineering consultant and now works
with Fairewinds Associates in Vermont.
"In my opinion, Florida's road ahead is strewn with obstacles and
uncertainties for the proposed construction of four new Westinghouse AP1000
nuclear reactors," said Mr. Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear safety engineer and
energy advisor with 38 years of nuclear experience. "I seriously question
the long-term feasibility of Florida Power and Light and Progress Energy
Florida completing these proposed new reactors."
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy's filing will be available online at
http://www.cleanenergy.org/index.php?/Testimony.html.
Dr. Mark Cooper's June 2009 report, "The Economics of Nuclear Reactors," is
available at http://www.vermontlaw.edu/Documents/
Cooper%20Report%20on%20Nuclear%20Economics%20FINAL[1].pdf.
SOURCE Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Jacksonville Beach, FL
Originally published by Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Jacksonville
Beach, FL.
(c) 2009 PRNewswire. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights
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