Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Sun Sentinel on 2 more Nukes at Turkey Point: They make sense. By geniusofdespair

Here is an editorial from the Sun Sentinel on having 4 reactors at Turkey Point, they make sense --for once-- they are not a cheerleader for FP&L like the Miami Herald is:

South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com - October 21, 2007
FPL needs to cover all bases on renewables
ISSUE: Utility takes first step toward more nukes.

Florida Power & Light is asking for state regulator approval to build two nuclear reactors at its Turkey Point power plant in southern Miami-Dade County.

The filing is the first step in what promises to be a drawn-out effort. FPL envisions the reactors coming online by 2020.

FPL's request before the Public Service Commission states the company needs the reactors so it can continue to diversify its electricity-generating mix. The Miami-based utility needs to convince the PSC that, in the next 13 years, the population it serves is going to grow to the point that the company will need the additional generating capacity.

That much is a no-brainer. Florida's population is expected to grow, especially in FPL's territory, which covers much of the southern end of the peninsula, and juts north on the east coast to near Jacksonville.

Still, there are a couple of issues that FPL, and federal energy regulators, need to resolve before getting a green light on more nukes in Florida. (Hit read more).


Namely, the public needs to be convinced that FPL has covered all the bases on renewable energy sources. One has to expect that, by 2020, technological advances will open avenues for cheaper, more abundant generating capacity from wind, solar and other renewable resources.

Nuclear power is billed as clean and cheap. But it is a complicated process that requires a lot of expense, and maintenance. Florida utilities shouldn't be encouraged to invest in complex reactors at the expense of investment in renewable sources.

Beyond that, the federal government must come up with a doable, financially-feasible plan for nuclear waste storage. The projected storage facility in Nevada hasn't materialized, and Washington has to deliver a solution before the nation can invest in more reactors.

Florida's population growth and rising energy needs might well require more nuclear power reactors, even with a meaningful contribution from renewables. But nukes should be an option that is tapped along with other renewable sources and once a plan for permanently and securely storing nuke waste is available.

BOTTOM LINE: Nukes might be needed, but renewables must not get shortchanged.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

what about the miami herald, what are they saying? What are the people in S. Dade saying?

Anonymous said...

This South Dade resident says NO WAY!!!

Anonymous said...

Save It Now, Glades! monitored Florida Power and Light’s proposal to site a pulverized coal power plant in Moore Haven, Florida very closely from September 2006, when the County Commission announced their approval of the land use zoning change the secret negotiations that had been going on with the applicant, until the PSC denial of the project in June 2007. To our horror and dismay, almost every level of government and every regulatory agency from which they sought approval was politically constrained in their implementation of policy and enforcement of statute. The $21 million carrot that the applicant held out, the promises of high salaried long term jobs in a poor rural county, and the monetary favors to various Glades County institutions blinded the locals to the potential harm of siting such a facility. The SFWMD acted more like a private environmental consulting firm to FPL than anything else, boasting of how water consumption at the headwaters of the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries would help mitigate nutrient laded fresh pulses. Similarly, the Florida DEP indulged FPL by holding more than the required number of local public meetings, during which they admitted much of the data was not available to model the impact of the emissions on the local area or region, yet sang the praises of the “advanced technology” that would be employed at the Glades Power “Park”. If it was as harmless as the applicant, their PR professionals, and the regulatory agencies said (even without complete application packages), why then all the secrecy? Why was FPL allowed to appear at so many meetings unannounced? Why was the Public Service Commission legally bound to evaluate the appropriateness of the cost to the ratepayer without all the benefit of many of the costs presented to them?

In the case of FPL and Glades County, power plant siting or expansion in Miami-Dade is not just a local issue, but regional. It is with this in mind that we are writing to express our grave concern over increased nuclear generating capacity in south Florida.

A nuclear power plant generates much more than electricity. It generates the most dangerous and persistent waste known to mankind, for which we have no safe long term storage, nor safe means of transporting it there if we had one. There are emissions of radionuclides to the air, water, soil and containment structures which lead to human exposure, the closer the proximity the more extreme the exposure.

A tremendous amount of soil will need to be mined in order to provide the pad for the new structure. This will be only a small part of the cost of the overall project to the ratepayers. The cost of uranium is predicted to increase dramatically after the easily extractable material has been consumed. Some experts predict that we have only a ten year supply of uranium which is cost effective to extract for fuel. The cost of clearing an old reactor site after decommissioning is so prohibitive it has never been done.

There are two items which such a densely populated county must consider extremely seriously: consumptive use of water for cooling and realistic evacuation plans. If only for the latter issue, it would be unconscionable to keep the public in the dark, as the residents surrounding Chernobyl were.

It appears Miami-Dade and FPL are taking the public on a ride through the same house of horrors as Glades and FPL did. While I am not sure how Governor Crist celebrates Halloween, if at all, I know he does not like government wearing a mask.