Category Archives: Nuclear

It is not enough to add a little solar and wind on top of fossil and fission fuels –a German @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

A German national residing in Georgia
asked for a serious effort on energy efficiency and conservation
while switching to real renewable energy sources instead of
fossil fuels and nuclear,
at

the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.

She said increasing fires and floods were part of climate change,
and we need to do something about it.



I always hear this phrase “growing energy demand” as if it’s something,
some matter of fact.
A growing economy means growing energy demand, and that means
consequently growing waste, growing pollution, growing inequity,
and so on.
Any thinking person should notice that we need to find a way out.
For anyone concerned about our future, business as usual is
no longer acceptable.
We need drastic changes in our energy supply.
We need to use less.



Only a month earlier, Tom Fanning, CEO of Georgia Power’s
parent company Southern Company

reemphasized yet again that

To us, growing the economy is how we’re going to make profit.

Yet GA PSC could do something about that antique attitude,
as this speaker pointed out: Continue reading →

More solar, less nuke cost overruns –Glenn Carroll @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

Glenn Carroll of Nuclear Watch South asked GA PSC
to raise the 2 MW solar cap and to get Georgia Power
to build solar in Georgia rather than in distant states,
plus efficiency and conservation,
at

the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.

She
said
they’d gotten a lot of national attention on Plant Vogtle,
which was having a legendary bad year, in procurement,
costs, etc.
She praised Sierra Club, Georgia Watch,
and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE)
for intervening in Georgia Power’s IRP.



The world has changed really really fast and Georgia Power
is being isolated.
It is protected financially of course because of the small business
and residential customers that are covering all of the risks that
they are taking.
We want solar power here, not Arizona and New Mexico.

She recommended conservation and efficiency programs at
Port Angeles, presumably

the one in Washington State.

Here’s

the video:

Continue reading →

Increased investment in demand-side reduction –a homebuilder @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

Paul[?] Matthews said he’s been green since before it was cool,
first in an earlier Georgia Power program (EarthCraft), and now in EarthCents.
He thinks the program is good, with both environmental and
economic benefits, but he asked for it to be extended to become
a model for the south,
at

the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.



He spoke about his company’s investment in sustainable
efficiency and conservation, and asked GA PSC and Georgia Power
to also do more.

A much more efficient way and cost-effective of reducing power is by
reducing energy used. We’re not only looking at tripling the savings
over the next ten years, but we’re also looking at job growth….

…a sustainable and long-term growth approach.

Let’s make the rebates and also the tax credits so they’re a model
for Georgia and also for the south.

Here’s

the video:

Continue reading →

EarthCents has taken a lot of power bill mystery away –a contractor @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

A contractor who does homeowner education as part of Georgia Power’s
Earth Cents program praised that program
at

the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.



He said homeowners tend to complain about power bills:

And this Earth Cents program has, in my experience, taken a lot of that
mystery away.
The homeowners that I touch and I deal with come away with an understanding
that leaves them less concerned about the rate hikes that I’m sure
keep you guys up at night when it comes to a vote and more concerned
about where the money is actually going.

I’m guessing he means homeowners are more concerned about what
Georgia Power is using to generate the power.


Earth Cents, according to Southern Company:

Introduced in 2008, EarthCents energy efficiency programs help our
customers save energy and money while reducing greenhouse gases.
EarthCents comprises a set of standing and new programs—and
educational efforts—to reduce residential and commercial
electricity consumption.

Here’s

the video:

Continue reading →

Does SO have a business model for energy conservation? –Dan Everett @ SO 2013-05-22

SO has done a lot about energy efficiency, but can it do more,
and how will it profit by doing so?
Prof. Dan Everett asked this
at the

22 May 2013 Southern Company Stockholder Meeting.


Prof. Dan Everett speaking

I have Mr. Dan Everett from Athens, Georgia, and he holds 11 shares of
Southern Company.

TF: Talked to Dan earlier today. Dan is a professor at the University of
Georgia, right?

DE: Right.


Dan Everett striding to the microphone
He’s
Daniel M. Everett,
Assistant Professor of Computer Science, UGA Athens.
The SO Annual Stockholders Meeting apparently doesn’t get many professors.

TF: Fantastic. Well, welcome.

DE: Oh, thank you very much. And as a guy who has some professional
interest in this stuff, I totally applaud the research that y’all
are doing on energy technologies and renewable
energies and efficiency technologies because it does take a while to
deploy those.

My specific question is about energy conservation.
I’ve noticed Continue reading →

Register today for hearing on Great Lakes nuclear waste dump

It’s upstream of much of the U.S.
side of the Great Lakes, and you can participate in the hearing
without having to go to Canada.
It may be a thousand miles from here, but stop one there and
maybe stop one here.
You wouldn’t want a nuclear waste dump on the Altamaha or Savannah River,
would you?


Michael Leonardi wrote for EcoWatch 3 July 2013,

Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Waste Dump,

Surely the question that comes to many is why on Earth would anyone
in their right mind consider the shores of Lake Huron for the first
permanent nuclear dump in North America? Lake Huron sits to the
north of Lakes St. Clair, Erie and Ontario and the water of this
lake flows southward and eastward, eventually connecting to the
Atlantic Ocean through the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Here’s how to participate in the public hearing,
via

Burying Nuclear Waste at the Bruce: OPG’s Proposed Deep Geological Repository,

Continue reading →

Georgia Power still too slow on solar in 20 year plan: PSC decides soon

Georgia Power tries to continue whistling in the fossil and nuclear fuel
dark while distributed solar power changes the world around it.
The Georgia Public Service Commission can decide differently,
and will decide next week, 11 July 2013.



Joshua Stewart
wrote 2 July 2013,

Decision Looms On Georgia Power Plan,

The state Public Service Commission votes next week on Georgia
Power’s 20-year plan, the road map for providing electricity to 2.4
million customers. That includes the mix of fuels the company will
use and the efforts the company undertakes to get customers to use
less energy. This happens every few years. But this time, Georgia
Power also wants to retire 16 coal- and oil-fired power-generating
units at six power plants.

This happens every few years. But this time, Georgia Power also
wants to retire 16 coal- and oil-fired power-generating units at six
power plants.

PSC Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald said at a
hearing in April that this version of Georgia Power’s plan “is
filled with the most-significant issues” of any Integrated Resources
Plan in the last decade.

And Georgia Power avoids actually facing many of those issues:

Continue reading →

Vogtle nuke loan deadline extended for third time

We don’t know

the federal cost estimates or the

terms and conditions
or why Plant Vogtle just got another three month extension
on that $8.33 billion federal loan guarantee.



Rob Pavey wrote for the August Chronicle yesterday,

Federal loan guarantee offer for Vogtle expansion extended again,

The owners of Plant Vogtle have secured — for the third time
— an extension to allow further negotiation with the U.S.
Energy Department over its 2010 offer of up to $8.3 billion in
federal loan guarantees to help finance two new nuclear reactors.

Georgia Power and co-owners Oglethorpe Power and Municipal Electric
Authority of Georgia were conditionally approved in February 2010
for loan-guarantee financing, in which the government promises to
assume a company’s debt if the company defaults. However, the
details were never agreed on. Two extensions have since expired,
with the most recent deadline — June 30 — passing
without any formal agreement in place. Jeannice M.W. Hall, a
Southern Co. spokeswoman, said in an e-mail Wednesday that the new
extension sets a Sept. 30 deadline for completing the loan guarantee
arrangements.

With Southern Company’s stock already

downgraded because of Kemper Coal and Plant Vogtle,
after

S&P’s downgraded SO’s credit,
and with

still more cost overruns at Kemper
on top of

Vogtle being 19 months late and a billion dollars over budget,
as
Gloria Tatum asked back in May,
why is SO gambling on nuclear instead of solar?

If you’re tired of this, you can

ask DoE Secretary Ernest Moniz to revoke that loan.

-jsq

Coal and natural gas cost effective vs. energy efficiency, wind, and solar power? –Stephanie Coffin @ SO 2013-05-22

SO CEO Tom Fanning is a true believer in “all of the above”,
yet a skeptic about natural gas.
However, he really doesn’t have much faith in renewables,
as he indicated at the

22 May 2013 Southern Company Stockholder Meeting
and even more strongly in the Wall Street Journal.


retirees and stockholders in the room wonder about the $13 million salary --Stephanie Coffin
This question is from Stephanie Coffin of Atlanta, Georgia, and she
holds 18 shares of stock.

TF:
Hello, Stephanie.

SC:
How are you, Tom?

TF:
Dynamite. How are you?


your income --Stephanie Coffin
SC:
Last year, I came to this meeting to ask a question and to listen to
the Southern Company reports. And so before I came I got to thinking
about what has changed since the last meeting. I think two things,
and then I’ll ask my question.

The first is the chairperson’s salary
increased 34 percent, over $13 million a year. I’m sure the retirees
and stockholders in the room wonder about the $13 million salary and
see that as negative PR in the face of continuing recession. $13
million a year, most of us are on fixed income. I mean, your income

My income --Stephanie Coffin
is fixed, too, but it’s very high. Mine is pretty low and we all
have to pay electric bills.

The second change, and then I’ll ask my
question, is that now 70 — 97 percent of all scientists
believe that climate change — that is, global warming —
is real and caused by human activity and this is a big shift. Last
year we were the climate deniers, we’re in control, and now 97
percent of all scientists say it’s real, it’s coming, you better get
ready.
In the face of this scientific consensus the Southern Company
has maintained its reliance on fossil fuels, mountaintop coal, old
coal plants and pushing nuclear power with huge wattage demands and
the dangers of nuclear wastes.

While I applaud the Southern
Company’s baby steps Continue reading →

Why are you gambling on nuclear instead of solar? –Gloria Tatum @ SO 2013-05-22

Why is SO gambling our health and dollars on Plant Vogtle
when Georgia Power could be getting on with solar power?
SO CEO Tom Fanning avoided the first part of Gloria Tatum’s question
by simply denying it, and danced around the second part by saying
the rate hike for Plant Vogtle’s cost overruns would only be
6 to 8 percent, not 12 percent.
Do you want to pay 6 or 8 percent more for a radioactive white elephant
when you could be getting power from the sun for less?

The floor person at the

22 May 2013 Southern Company Stockholder Meeting
introduced Gloria Tatum with 164 shares, representing Nuclear
Watch South, and the SO CEO insisted

TF: Call me Tom. Gee whiz.


Gloria Tatum
GT: Tom. Hi,Tom. It’s great to be here on this beautiful day.

TF: Thank you. Yes ma’am.

GT: And I know Southern Company’s done many wonderful things, but I want
to point out a few things to you today.

First, you know, after the
Fukushima meltdown, TEPCO’s $50 billion nuclear complex became a
worthless liability. The deadly radiation still circles the planet,
polluting the earth and increasing cancer. Other countries have
abandoned their nuclear and they’re looking to renewable, but
Southern Company’s affiliate, Georgia Power, continues construction
on two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle. Now Shell Bluff is a
community down the stream from Plant Vogtle and it has experienced a
25 percent increase in cancer since Vogtle 1 and 2 have been built.

Another problem with Vogtle Continue reading →