Energy chief foresees nuclear power plant

[struggle4progress]

Posted on Tue, May. 17, 2005

JOHN HEILPRIN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Tuesday the first new nuclear power plant in more than two decades could be completed by 2014 under administration proposals to reduce construction risks and speed licensing.

Bodman said the Energy Department will ask Congress to establish a $3 billion insurance pool to help investors cover interest, operating, maintenance and newly acquired construction costs stemming from regulatory delays. Premiums would be waived for utilities that place firm orders before 2009 for new power plants.

Each new reactor would be insured for up to $500 million.

Bodman said the administration also plans to ask Congress to make it harder to stop a new reactor from operating once it is built. He said fewer appeals to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would give "more certainty in the licensing process." <snip>

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/politics/11670392.htm

[unhappycamper]

1. but... but.... but.....

why the fuck are we drilling in ANWR?

[struggle4progress]

2. We must rape and destroy Mother Earth so that human misery increases, ..

.. leading to a world war over resources. Why? Well ... members of the Ownership Society expect that this will put them firmly in control of everything, while the little dimbulb heretics of the Fristian right believe that if we just make life on earth as horrid as Eternal Damnation then the Last Judgment will occur and they can fly away to heaven ...

So you see there is simply no choice: we must wreck everything as quickly as possible. :grr:

[unhappycamper]

6. Unfortunately, I think you are right on the money. nt

[megatherium]

3. Utilities aren't going to spring for nukes without plenty of encouragement

I remember getting a tour of Shoreham nuclear power station in 1980, when it was said to be 98% completed in construction. Very impressive facility. We got to walk through the containment structure (safe because no fuel had been loaded) as well as the control room (complete except for the drop ceiling). I noticed a graffito in the containment structure: LILCO sucks radioactive moose dick. As it happened, Shoreham never was brought on line (I believe there were unresolved concerns about the evacuation of Long Island in the event of an accident). I shudder to think of how much money that cost LILCO.

[jwirr]

4. If this one is like the past ones

we will not see any energy from it for 20 some years. One in Texas took 17 years to build, TVA built one in 22 years and both of them were obsolete when they were finished. All we got out of them was money for Bechtel and other corporate leeches.

[hunter]

5. And we are going to fly to mars!

My prediction: the Bush Administration will make a mess of this, but they will make lots of money doing it, so it doesn't matter to them. They don't care if people die, so long as it is not them. (It is horrible to contemplate, but they are making money off the mess in Iraq, so why not add nuclear power to their profitable portfolio of death?)

Imagine dozens of creaking Rancho Seco style nuclear power plants, each with its own unique set of problems, and who cares if a plant kills people, that's what the 3 billion dollar insurance pool is for: hush money. Those who know how to "hush" will be well rewarded, and those who complain will be ignored.

If a viable nuclear power industry is actually possible, and I often believe it is, then it will almost certainly be developed in other nations, and not here in the United States where corruption is rampant. We don't have what it takes to safely expand our nuclear power industry.

Maybe I'll change my mind when I see a few Enron executives and Iraqi war profiteers doing hard life sentences in the most hellish of our Federal prisons, but honestly, it ain't going to happen until we throw the rat bastards in the Bush administration out. The worst that's ever going to happen to Ken Lay and Bush's other good buddies is that they get extended vacations in some Federal Country Club. Martha Stewart suffered worse.

Oh well, gotta go now, Donald Trump and his wife are on Larry King, there are new developments in the Michael Jackson trial, the runaway bride once fell into a well and had sex with a fireman, and most of all, the situation with Andy's tumor is hot, hot, hot, and it's all here on the Democratic Underground!

(Andy, you know I love you! :hug: )

Good night, and God Bless you all,

Hunter