French, U.S. companies to build nuke power plant

Benjamin Grove

Friday, Sept. 16, 2005 | 9:51 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A French firm with Yucca Mountain ties and a U.S. nuclear company aim to win the race to construct the first new U.S. nuclear power plant in nearly 30 years, despite the nation's problem-plagued nuclear waste plan.

France's state-owned AREVA Inc. -- with a U.S. headquarters in Maryland, 8,000 U.S. employees, and a history of plant construction -- has joined with U.S. nuclear giant Constellation Energy to form the Annapolis, Md.-based UniStar Nuclear, officials announced Thursday.

UniStar would have at least two connections to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project. COGEMA Inc., an AREVA affiliate, won a $29.7 million, 4 1/2-year contract to design material handling systems at Yucca in May 2003.

Also, UniStar would design plants based on AREVA technology, but the reactors would be constructed by Bechtel Power Corp. in this country. The Bechtel family of companies include Bechtel SAIC, an affiliate that is the lead Energy Department contractor at Yucca Mountain. So Bechtel could be involved in constructing new plants -- and constructing the future home of the plant waste.

UniStar aims to create streamlined approach to the expensive and complex proposition of designing, building and licensing new power plants, officials said. They want to market a new generation plant technology powered by a 1,600-megawatt reactor.

Design is nearing completion and a new plant could be "on the grid," by 2015, they said. Investors in the new plants could include other U.S. energy companies.

The announcement of the new venture came five weeks after Congress approved energy legislation laden with fiscal incentives for the nuclear industry.

"With the recent passage of the Energy Policy Act, we now believe the time is right to build nuclear power plants in America," Michael Wallace, co-executive UniStar officer, said.

Nuclear energy officials for several years have said it was time for a U.S. nuclear "renaissance," especially with oil prices on the rise -- and with President Bush and leaders in the GOP-controlled Congress dangling financial incentives in front of the industry. Nuclear plants generate nearly 20 percent of America's electricity without emitting greenhouse gases.

But numerous obstacles have snared the drive to construct new plants, including investor wariness of massive costs and a complicated regulatory maze.

The industry also has battled a public perception that nuclear plants are unsafe since the 1979 Three Mile Island disaster in Pennsylvania, although industry leaders have boasted of their safety record since then.

And there's the waste problem. More than 40,000 tons of waste has piled up at both closed plants and at 103 active reactors nationwide since the first commercial nuclear plant began operating in 1957.

The federal government has deemed Yucca Mountain the nation's waste solution, and the Energy Department aims to open the proposed underground high-level waste dump site as early as 2012.

But the program has been beset by budgetary setbacks, delay and scientific controversy, and it continues to face legal challenges from Nevada.

Nuclear industry officials have said in the past that solid progress on Yucca was needed before they could build new plants. But they have softened that rhetoric as it seemed more likely that they could pursue new nuclear plants.

The new venture firmly believes Yucca Mountain is the "best option" as a long-term waste solution, Constellation Energy spokesman Robert Gould said. He said there are alternatives for waste storage until Yucca is complete.

"We need to see a path forward" on Yucca, Gould said. "But we do not see that (Yucca problems) as an impediment."

Nevada lawmakers say that Congress has renewed interest in other alternatives, including continuing to store waste at plants until a better solution than Yucca is developed. There is renewed interest among key lawmakers in recycling waste, they say.

"Yucca is dead -- that's a dirty little secret around here," Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said in an interview at the Capitol.

The nuclear industry knows that another waste solution would be needed for any new plants, Ensign said. Yucca by law would be designed to hold 77,000 tons of waste and filled to capacity by 2036.

"They (new plants) would need a second Yucca Mountain," Ensign said, arguing that on-site storage and developing waste-recycling technology were better options.

However, Yucca advocates, including its powerful supporters in Congress, say the nation needs Yucca whether it pursues other waste solutions or not.

Nuclear industry critics scoffed at the new venture. Investors know that nuclear power is not a good investment because it reliable or economical, said David Lochbaum, a nuclear power expert with the Union for Concerned Scientists.

He noted that the government underwrites an insurance plan in case of catastrophic plant accidents. He also noted the energy bill included a $200 million incentive for the constructors of a new plant, as well as a promise that taxpayers would pay for construction delays beyond five years.