Archive for the ‘South Texas Project’ Category

March 21, 2011

Japan puts nuclear industry in uncertain state

By Tracy Idell Hamilton
San Antonio Express-News

Nuclear Innovation North America is slowing down development of two additional nuclear reactors at the South Texas Project to give federal regulators and others time to assess the state of the industry in the wake of Japan’s nuclear disaster.

Work on the proposed plants will be limited to licensing and securing the U.S. federal loan guarantee upon which the project depends, according to a Monday release from NINA, the nuclear development company owned by NRG Energy and Toshiba Corp.

"NRG and its partners stand squarely behind new nuclear power as the most important component in our transition to a low-carbon economy," said David Crane, chairman of the board of NINA and CEO of NRG.

"However, our best course of action in this immediate period of uncertainty is to minimize project spend, continue with those activities we can control and wait until there is more information upon which we can base our long-term decisions."

The Obama administration last week called for a safety review of U.S. nuclear plants. Any design or regulatory changes stemming from that review could affect the proposed units near Bay City.

Crane said that since the South Texas Project and the stricken plants in Fukushima are different, it isn’t clear whether modifications would be necessary to the existing or planned units.

NRG also remains committed to an earlier promise it made to shareholders that it would make a final decision about whether to continue with the project by the third quarter of this year, Crane said.

He said the Japanese crisis has added to uncertainty about loan guarantees; the licensing process; the cost to build the plant; customers committed to buying the power; and the project’s eventual ownership.

Tokyo Electric Power Co., or Tepco, which owns the crippled Fukushima plants, had been expected to invest in the expansion. Given the company’s capital needs in the wake of the disaster, that’s now in question, Crane said.

But the Japanese government may still have an interest in putting up loan guarantees, Crane said – though he stressed that NRG has not spoken directly to the Japanese government or Tepco since the earth-quake – since they would support Toshiba.

Most U.S. analysts were bearish on the economics of new nuclear development even before the Japanese crisis; since then, projections have become even grimmer. A report from Standard & Poor’s last week projects "deteriorating economics" for new plant construction.

thamilton(at)express-news.net

RT America March 16, 2011 Interview with Investigative Journalist Greg Palast

March 16, 2011

By ELIZABETH SOUDER

Dallas Morning News

New reactors are in the extreme expensive, and unless the government, vendors, investors and major clients share the burden, it’s hard to make a financial case to build in Texas’ deregulated electricity market.

The company has been negotiating for years with its Japanese vendor, Toshiba Corp., and investment partners, the utilities owned by the cities of San Antonio and Austin. NRG wants to share the financial risk of building the reactors. In Texas, power companies must build plants on their own and only make money by selling electricity.

Credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service said: "In light of recent events and the capital needs nevertheless unfolding at TEPCO, we would not be surprised if TEPCO’s efforts to invest internationally were scaled back materially."

The massive expense

Both Texas projects require government loan guarantees because of the massive expense. The Department of Energy has the money to guarantee loans for probably one more nuclear expansion project. NRG is a front-runner in the competition.

"There’s lot of passions on this issue, and nuclear’s as much a political issue as things are a science issue," said David Johnson, a managing director at Protiviti business consulting firm.

March 11, 2011

By Nora Ankrum
Austin Chronicle

New coalition opposes nuke proposal

A new environmental coalition has formed in opposition to NRG Energy’s proposal that the city enter into a nuclear power purchase agreement with the South Texas Project. City-owned Austin Energy owns a 16% share of STP’s two operating units; NRG plans to build two new units there and is looking for customers to buy power from it. The Solar Sí Nuclear No coalition held a press conference Tuesday with representatives of some 14 different organizations present, along with former Austin Mayor Frank Cooksey (1985-1988) and Matagorda County resident Susan Dancer, who said the financial prosperity originally promised Matagorda residents when STP was built there have never materialized; meanwhile, she said, "our environment has been permanently disadvantaged." Cooksey recalled STP’s cost overruns, noting that he served as mayor during the time when AE’s electric rates first absorbed the high costs. He also pointed to safety concerns: "I think it is immoral to create these [spent] fuel rods without having an adequate solution to safely store them and render them harmless," he said. NRG has distanced itself from STP’s past, saying that the new design is based on a unit already built in Japan without the budget and timing mishaps associated with STP. Nonetheless, the SEED Coalition’s Karen Hadden said the PPA could cost the city $13 billion to $20 billion it might otherwise invest in wind and solar. AE spokesman Carlos Cordova confirmed those numbers as "in the ballpark for the proposal that we have heard."

Events in Japan cast a long shadow

March 18, 2011

By Nora Ankrum
Austin Chronicle

A week before the earthquake in Japan triggered the world’s worst nuclear emergency in 25 years, the nuclear industry had cause for celebration: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced March 2 that two proposed reactors at the South Texas Project had passed a final environmental impact assessment, bringing the project an important step closer to obtaining a construction and operating license. It was a milestone for the project, which in 2007 was the first in almost 30 years to file an application with the federal agency; nonetheless, it still has a way to go, and hopes for its success – which have hinged on whether utilities like Austin Energy would choose to take part – have now been eclipsed by events on the other side of the world.

Austin Energy owns 16% of the nuclear power plant’s two reactors, which have operated at Matagorda Bay since the late Eighties. NRG Energy owns 40% and is behind the proposal to double the site’s number of reactors, in partnership with Toshiba. NRG hopes to bring the first reactor online in 2016. First, however, the project needs the license, which is dependent on last week’s environmental impact statement as well as completion of a safety evaluation report and a ruling from the federal regulatory commission. NRG Energy also needs customers willing to buy the power. According to Juan Garza, NRG’s president of advanced technology, "It’s important to us that we get [power purchase agreements] … to show the federal government that there is a market for what we’re trying to do." Now, the crisis in Japan – where engineers at several reactors have been struggling to prevent nuclear meltdowns – could make that task difficult. As Reuters reported Monday, both Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s bond rating houses are now making gloomy predictions for U.S. nuclear projects like STP, suggesting they are at risk of rising costs, delays, and even cancellation.

While Austin Energy General Manager Larry Weis said Monday that the crisis in Japan is not affecting his outlook on STP specifically, he acknowledged it is a likely setback for the entire industry. NRG proposed last month that Austin Energy enter into a power purchase agreement for energy expected to eventually come from the new reactors. Such a contract would theoretically shield AE from unknowns by allowing it to pay a fixed price – particularly important given the energy utilities’ rocky past with the South Texas Project, which for many years was plagued with cost overruns and delays. Over time, however, the nuclear power plant has become one of Austin Energy’s lowest-cost resources, and as NRG officials point out, the plant was named one of "America’s Safest Companies" last year. Garza also says that the new units – advanced boiling water reactors – would show vast improvements over the older ones because they’d feature the same modular design as four reactors already built within budget and on time in Japan.

According to NRG spokesman David Knox, none of those four reactors are among those making headlines right now; those units sit farther from the earthquake’s epicenter and are younger, as well. Nonetheless, the events unfolding across the Pacific – the mass evacuation of residents around the affected power plants and the actions of those risking their lives to cool the reactors – make plain the dangers both of living near and of working in a nuclear plant. As pointed out over the weekend by Karen Hadden, executive director of the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Coalition, "Any reactor can have a meltdown."

The SEED Coalition has joined with other environmental and public interest groups to oppose any Austin Energy involvement with the new reactors, citing both safety and financial concerns. The nuclear commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board has granted hearings on three of the SEED Coalition’s contentions: "fire safety" (asking if the power plant can adequately manage a fire emergency); "co-location" (asking how an emergency at one reactor might affect three others); and "need for power" (the South Texas Project must explain the need for adding 2,700 megawatts of power when new building codes are likely to save nearly as much simply through energy efficiency). The first hearing is likely to take place this fall, says Hadden.

The SEED Coalition is also opposing efforts to extend the operating licenses for the two existing reactors by 20 years (to 2047 and 2048, respectively), citing concerns about a cooling reservoir leak and tritium, a radioactive isotope, found in nearby wells and the Colorado River. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is accepting public comment on the renewal through April 1. The licensing effort could also be yet another potential casualty of the events in Japan. According to a weekend statement from Moody’s, "issuers that recently filed for a 20-year operating license extension with the NRC are likely to receive additional scrutiny."

While environmental concerns loom large in arguments against the South Texas Project, NRG cites environmental reasons in its favor. "To me, there’s an element of emergency," says Garza, "in that it’s an opportunity to build 2,700 megawatts of capacity that essentially are carbon-free." With Austin Energy’s climate protection goals in mind, NRG has also offered to buy the utility’s share of the coal-burning Fayette Power Project.
So far, AE isn’t biting. While the utility remains open to a nuclear power purchasing agreement, says Weis, it simply isn’t in the position to be "shopping" for baseload resources. With a goal of beginning construction in 2012, NRG officials have expressed hope of securing a deal with AE this summer. Weis, however, says the utility feels no such urgency. Right now, he says, Austin Energy is prioritizing its renewable energy goals, an effort made possible by the recent passage of an affordability forecast allowing the utility to move forward with its generation plan, several years in the making. "It’s kind of a timing thing," says Weis. "We can’t add all these things at the same time."

For more on the South Texas Project’s license renewal, or to make comments, call the Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 301/415-6337 or see austinchronicle.com/s/?e=1162263.