February 18, 2015 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

Just as the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is preparing for the launch of Watts Bar Unit 2, the first new nuclear reactor in 20 years, so-called experts claim that the nuclear boom promised five years ago when the White House announced it was providing $8.3 billion in loan guarantees for two nuclear reactors at the Vogtle project in Georgia has "fizzled" as the industry "struggles with major cost overruns and delays."

"Vogtle, V.C. Summer, Watts Bar and recently cancelled nuclear projects are far from the scenario of revived nuclear construction that the White House anticipated in approving that first conditional loan guarantee five years ago," said former Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Commissioner Peter Bradford. "Although the nuclear revival was announced by the Department of Energy in 2002, and the nuclear industry was given all that it asked by Congress and a few states as of 2005-2006 in the form of subsidies that dwarf anything given to efficiency and renewables, not a single molecule of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has been prevented by a new reactor in the 21st century."

Further, the experts say that the "new" Watts Barr nuclear reactor isn't so new anymore, noting that if Watts Bar is delivered in late 2015, it will be 37 years behind the original schedule and three years behind the updated schedule that was set out for it in 2007, as well as up to $3 billion over budget.  In addition, it would contain 40-year-old components that date back to the original construction process, hardly making Watts Bar a new reactor with a current design.

"The impact of treating consumers' money as if it has no time value, which is what advanced cost recovery (or CWIP) does can be seen in sharp focus in the case of Watts Bar.  TVA spent $2 billion before the project was abandoned over 30 years ago.  The money came out of consumer's pockets, even though they got no electricity for it," said Dr. Mark Cooper, senior fellow for economic analysis, Institute for Energy and the Environment, Vermont Law School. "If consumers could have achieved a 1 percent real annual return on that money, they would have $5 billion more in their pockets.  Combining the present value of $6 billion in those long ago sunk costs, to the additional $4-4.5 billion that will be spent to bring Watts Bar online makes it just about the most expensive reactor built in the United States, with an overnight cost in the neighborhood of $8000/kw."

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