Bush signs $14.5 billion energy bill(anti-nuke people upset)

Boston Globe ^ | 8/9/05 | Susan Milligan

[Dane]

..The law also promises to resurrect the stagnant nuclear power industry, which has not commissioned a new plant in more than 30 years. With newly extended limits on liability in accidents, the industry is free to develop plans for new plants, said Steve Kerekes, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute.

The president said yesterday that the law will lead to the construction of nuclear plants before the end of the decade, giving a big boost to an industry that has run aground because of local opposition to reactors, lingering doubts after the Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident in 1979, and the uncertainty of regulatory delays and potentially costly litigation.

'This is a big moment," Kerekes said. ''We may be in a position of being able to look back 20 to 25 years from now at this event today as a momentous event that really helped ensure a new era of prosperity and growth."

Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog group, came up with a total of $6.4 billion in tax breaks and authorized spending to aid the nuclear industry, including subsidies for designing reactors, building facilities, reprocessing spent fuel, and decommissioning nuclear power plants. One of the plants has been designated for Idaho, the home of Senator Larry Craig, a Republican and senior member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The law also provides the nuclear industry with government money if a plant's construction is delayed by litigation or regulatory red tape and extends special insurance liability limits for the industry. While nuclear operators still have to buy insurance in case of a nuclear accident, the entire industry shares the burden if claims are filed, and the overall amount of the liability is limited.

[Dane]

I'm happy when anti-nuke energy and envirowhackos are unhappy.

[Dane]

Also to them(envirowhackos) you can't look to the future to lessen dependence on foreign oil with such proven energy sources such as nuclear and coal, which by the way will provide for thousands of new jobs.

[Shawndell Green]

Yes, this is a twofer!

[mozarky2]

I work in the electric biz (AEP), and I can promise you this: there will be no new nukes in the foreseeable future. All this about construction starting by decade's end is just wishful thinking on the part of the nuke biz. I wish it were so, but it IS NOT happening.

[goldstategop]

The Left is opposed to the internal combustion engine, to burning wood, to burning coal, to wind farms, to dams, to burning garbage and to nuclear power plants. From where do they expect an industrial civilization to obtain the energy needed to keep running? I guess it must be hot air but they want to ban that too.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[Dane]

I work in the electric biz (AEP), and I can promise you this: there will be no new nukes in the foreseeable future

Well we will see, but I disagree. I think another couple of plants will be started within the next few years.

[mozarky2]

It would take 20-30 years to get them built, 5-10 just for permits. Coal gasification and fluidized bed technology is the future.
NOBODY will invest in nukes, I promise.

[G.Mason]

"Critics ( any doubt what Party's these nimrods belong to? ) called the law a giveaway to wealthy corporations( yawwwwn ) and said the package would do little to ease the country's reliance on foreign oil supplies."

Excuse me ... pardon me ... but just who has been responsible for this county's reliance on "foreign" oil?

That's right. The enemy Democrat Party. Those same whackers that wail about SUV's, the Snail Darter, and the Caribou. The same anti-Americans that scream obscentities at right to lifers, Christians, and Conservative black Americans.

The most vile thing about them is they say these things with straight faces and their bony fingers waving in our faces.

Rant off!

[G.Mason]

"It would take 20-30 years to get them built, 5-10 just for permits ..."

And we all know the world will end before that.

[EQAndyBuzz]

"The Left is opposed to the internal combustion engine, to burning wood, to burning coal, to wind farms, to dams, to burning garbage and to nuclear power plants. From where do they expect an industrial civilization to obtain the energy needed to keep running? I guess it must be hot air but they want to ban that too. "

They don't expect an industrial revolution. That means they will be left behind as we have seen. The left wants us all to be equal, living in huts, singing kumbayah.

[snowsislander]

I work in the electric biz (AEP), and I can promise you this: there will be no new nukes in the foreseeable future. All this about construction starting by decade's end is just wishful thinking on the part of the nuke biz. I wish it were so, but it IS NOT happening.

I am not in that business so this is probably way off base, but from what I have read, it appears to me that Grand Gulf, Mississippi, has some chance for expansion from one reactor to two.

I did a Google search on Grand Gulf and found what I think is an interesting web page that has some pretty recent information, including a pro-nuclear power rally in Mississippi: http://www.aaenvironment.com/NewNukes3.htm

Here's a photo from the webpage:

[El Laton Caliente]

The buzz I've heard, and I'm not sure how to conferm it, is that quietly eight nuke construction permits have already been filed. Some several years back.

The part of the bill I like is the ethynol tax breaks and requirements. While it is going to mean more cost at the pumps it keeps the farmers happy producing a renewable resource and industrial construction types (like me) busy building the plants.

[snowsislander]

The buzz I've heard, and I'm not sure how to conferm it, is that quietly eight nuke construction permits have already been filed. Some several years back.

Here's what the timeline that the NRC has for Grand Gulf's requested licensing (http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-licensing/esp/grand-gulf.html):

Review Schedule

Milestone	Completion Date (Actual - A  Target -T)
Receive early site permit application	10/21/03 - A
Press Release announcing receipt and availability	11/07/03 - A
Federal Register notice (FRN) published for receipt and availability	11/14/03 - A
FRN published announcing acceptance	12/01/03 - A
FRN published for Notice of Intent (environmental scoping process)	12/31/03 - A
Press Release announcing acceptance	01/13/04 - A
FRN published for mandatory hearing	01/16/04 - A
Environmental scoping meeting	01/21/04 - A
Scoping period ends	02/12/04 - A
1st inspection complete	02/13/04 - A
Deadline for filing petitions for intervention	02/17/04 - A
Environmental site audit	04/16/04 - A
Deadline for submitting contentions	05/03/04 - A
Environmental requests for additional information (RAIs) issued to applicant	07/02/04 - A
Applicant submits response to environmental RAIs	09/17/04 - A
Safety and emergency planning (EP) RAIs issued to the applicant	09/21/04 - A
Applicant submits responses to safety and EP RAIs	12/07/04 - A
Draft safety evaluation report (SER) issued	04/07/05 - T
Draft environmental impact statement (EIS) to EPA, Issue Notice of Availability	04/29/05 - T
ACRS subcommittee meeting on draft SER	05/06/05 - T
ACRS full committee meeting on draft SER	06/10/05 - T
Public meeting to discuss draft EIS	06/14/05 - T
Applicant submits responses to SER open items	06/21/05 - T
2nd inspection complete	06/23/05 - T
ACRS interim letter to Commission	06/24/05 - T
End of draft EIS comment period	07/14/05 - T
Optional final inspection complete	09/08/05- T
Final SER issued	10/21/05 - T
Regional Administrator's Letter	11/22/05 - T
ACRS subcommittee meeting on final SER	11/22/05 - T
ACRS full committee meeting on final SER	12/08/05 - T
ACRS letter to Commission	12/22/05 - T
Final EIS issued to EPA/Issue Notice of Availability	12/23/05 - T
Final SER issued as NUREG	01/28/06 - T
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) initial decision	06/06/06 - T
Commission decision	10/10/06 - T

* Commission Order CLI-04-08 mandates the use of the New Part 2 hearing process for ESP applications.  Completion date is 60 days from the issuance of the Order.

[Happy2BMe]

How many nuclear powered electric generation plants does Mexico have?

Should we help them in this regard?

[Dane]

How many nuclear powered electric generation plants does Mexico have?

Should we help them in this regard?

What is up with your Mexico fetish?

Sheesh, can't you guys leave Mexico out of the picture for a millisecond.

[MD_Willington_1976]

agreed...it will make them so upset they will pile into their old oil burning vans and go down and litter and protest outside the gates of a nuclear facility in the guise of saving the planet...

[El Laton Caliente]

So about three years to permit and it looks like they are behind schedule or have not updated the schedule.

I'll be glad when the nuke guys go back to their industry and leave petro/chem/fossel power to us "normal" industrial folks... ;^)

[sheltonmac]

I'm happy when anti-nuke energy and envirowhackos are unhappy.

The anti-spending people are unhappy as well.

[Dolphan]

They won't be happy until everybody (else) doesn't drive, use electricity, or eat animal products.

[Types_with_Fist]

Sheesh, can't you guys leave Mexico out of the picture for a millisecond.

I can if the federal government can...:-)