Group items tagged

Progress Energy on Monday said it had signed a $7.65-billion engineering, procurement and construction contract with the consortium of Westinghouse and The Shaw Group to build two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at a site in Levy County, Florida, near its existing Crystal River-3 reactor. The utility said forecasted inflation, owner costs and contingencies will bring the total cost of the two-unit project to about $14 billion. The estimate also includes land price, plant components, financing costs, construction, labor, regulatory fees and reactor fuel for two units. An additional $3 billion is estimated for the necessary transmission equipment and about 200 miles of transmission lines associated with the project, Progress said.

Tampa Bay legislators plan on taking a whack at a two-year-old law that allows Progress Energy to charge customers for its $17-billion nuclear project years before it starts producing electricity. The law paved the way for the average Progress Energy bill to rise by about $13 a month, contributing to the 25 percent increase customers will see starting in January. Customers just can't afford it, said state Sen. Mike Fasano, who voted for the law in 2006. Fasano now says his vote was a "mistake." He did not realize just how high bills would go, he said.

he U.S. Department of Labor on February 4 announced that it has paid more than $100 million in compensation and medical benefits to Florida residents under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA). The act was created to assist those individuals who became ill as a result of working in the atomic weapons industry. Survivors of such individuals may also be eligible for benefits. Since the implementation of the act, the Labor Department has paid 48,510 claimants more than $4.5 billion in compensation and medical benefits nationwide. "We are extremely proud of having compensated so many deserving Florida residents," said Rachel P. Leiton, director of the department's Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (DEEOIC). "This milestone further demonstrates DEEOIC's commitment to assisting those Cold War workers who served this nation in building its nuclear defense programs. But we also believe there may be other Floridians who have not yet filed for these benefits, including many who worked at nuclear weapons facilities elsewhere and later retired in Florida. These individuals are urged to contact the U.S. Department of Labor at 866-666-4606 to inquire about their potential eligibility."

In a move that could affect its plans for a third nuclear reactor at North Anna Power Station, Dominion power is exploring options for another design. Dominion has been unable to reach an agreement with GE Hitachi on an engineering, procurement and construction agreement allowing Dominion to move ahead with Unit 3 at its plant on Lake Anna. Dominion nuclear operations spokesman Richard Zuercher said yesterday that time is the issue. "Our timeline to move forward to have a new unit operating at North Anna is between 2016 and 2018, and we have no agreement that gets us to that point," Zuercher said. He said that Dominion will seek out other vendors for an advanced reactor that can be licensed and built under that timeline.

Neither the former workers at a nuclear weapons plant in Largo nor Sen. Bill Nelson are buying into a recently released Inspector General report. The report by the Inspector General for the federal Labor Department says claims for benefits under a program for sick plant workers are being processed according to law. Congress passed a program in 2000 to compensate sick workers at the General Electric plant and pay their medical bills.

For the last week, home for Brenda Pickney and her family has been a nondescript hotel room close to the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. Getting laundry done and sorting out evening meals is difficult, she says. Her 10-year-old son Kelvin misses his toys and books. The Pickneys are one of about 35 Tallevast families who took Lockheed Martin's offer to move into hotels while the company demolishes two buildings at a former plant that used the metal beryllium to make parts for nuclear warheads.

Florida's energy future should be "clean" - not just "renewable" - and include nuclear power as a source of green energy, according to recommendations from the staff of utility regulators released Wednesday. The 111-page report is the latest step in the debate over whether power companies can count new nuclear power toward their obligation to generate renewable energy. The report follows months of lobbying by Florida Power & Light - the state's largest utility and producer of nuclear power - to persuade regulators to create a "Clean Energy Portfolio Standard" rather than a "Renewable Portfolio Standard." Florida statues do not include nuclear power in the definition of "renewable" energy. FPL generates no renewable energy in Florida.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold public meetings Thursday, Dec. 4, in Crystal River, Fla., to discuss the environmental issues the agency should consider in reviewing a Combined License (COL) application for two new reactors proposed for the Levy County site near Crystal River. The NRC will meet with the public from 1 - 4 p.m. and 6 - 9 p.m. at the Florida National Guard Armory, 8551 W. Venable St. in Crystal River. The application's environmental report is available on the agency's Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/levy.html. Copies of the report are also available at the Citrus County Coastal Region Library, 8619 W. Crystal St. in Crystal River; the Bronson Public Library at 600 Gilbert St. in Bronson, Fla.; and the Dunnellon Branch Library at 20351 Robinson Rd. in Dunnellon, Fla.

Residents and businesses in the Tampa Bay area soon will be paying a lot more for electricity. Customers of Tampa Electric Co. and Progress Energy will see a double-digit percentage increase in their electric bills beginning next year under plans approved this week by state regulators. The utilities say the increases are needed to cover higher costs for oil, natural gas and coal, which are used to generate electricity. For TECO customers, bills will rise about 12 percent. The cost of 1,000 kilowatt hours will jump from $114.38 now to $128.44 in January.

Lockheed Martin Corp. will temporarily relocate any family or individual in Tallevast who wants to leave town while two buildings that sit on a contamination spill are dismantled, company spokesman Tom Greer announced Wednesday. So far, 35 households have asked to be relocated and Lockheed is paying to move them into local hotels that offer extended stay accommodations, Greer said. Greer estimated that the dismantling of the two buildings should be complete by Christmas, and then the families are expected to return to their Tallevast homes. The contamination has been traced back to a spill at the former Loral American Beryllium plant at 1600 Tallevast Road

After a three-day hearing, the state Public Service Commission Thursday postponed a decision on whether to also allow FPL to charge customers for $220 million in nuclear costs and part of its proposed $7 billion in fuel and purchased power costs. After giving groups representing FPL customers more time to give input on FPL's request, the commission will reconvene Wednesday.

In March 2006, a tiny hole -- a mere one-eighth of an inch -- was discovered in a critical pipe at the Turkey Point nuclear power plant. The hole ended up costing at least $6 million. This week, a heated debate has been going on in Tallahassee about who should pay the $6 million -- Florida Power & Light or its customers. New information obtained by state regulators shows that the prime suspect in the case was a contract employee who drilled the hole because he was angry with the utility. According to a federal document, he had failed an FPL psychological test and had a criminal background that included charges of criminal mischief.

Information unveiled this week raises troubling questions about a 2006 act of vandalism at Florida Power & Light Co.'s Turkey Point nuclear power plant - vandalism that has already cost utility customers $6.2 million. A sheet metal worker suspected of drilling a tiny hole in a pressurized pipe was authorized to work there despite a history of scrapes with the law, including a DUI conviction, and, according to FBI documents, failing FPL's standard psychological screening test. The man worked at the plant in 2006, when someone drilled a one-eighth-inch hole in the pipe, according to testimony this week before the Florida Public Service Commission in Tallahassee.

Three anti-nuclear protesters were fined yesterday after pleading guilty to trespassing at the Lake Anna Power Station's visitor center. The case was on appeal from an earlier conviction in Louisa General District Court. That conviction was nullified after defense attorney John Maus argued that they should have been charged under state law rather than a county trespassing code. Louisa Commonwealth's Attorney Thomas Garrett agreed to drop the county code charges, but the protesters, Darci Rodenhi, Rebecca Mann and Glenn Carroll Boatenreiter, were charged instead under state law.

While public pressure is finally achieving cleaner fossil plant emissions, Sen. John McCain adamantly insists that nuclear energy is safe and efficient. In recent years, the press reveals bit by bit the litany of dangerous nuclear plant vulnerabilities, most importantly those of toxic waste storage and close-call meltdowns. As there is always the risk of possible multiple state catastrophes, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to uphold the ultimate, stringent, no-fail safety standards. But, the NRC has been attacked by congressional lawmakers for its secrecy.

The big positive: Nuclear produces huge amounts of power with zero greenhouse gas emissions without using a drop of foreign oil. The two new reactors planned for Turkey Point in South Miami-Dade are the equivalent of roughly 90 square miles of solar panels. The big negative: More than two million pounds of high-density radioactive waste sit right now at Turkey Point. It's growing by 40 tons each year, and there's no place to send it.

While the major drop in gasoline costs has given Treasure Coast residents a little breathing room, customers of Florida Power & Light Co. should brace for yet another upward bump in their bill in January. Most residents already have noticed an uptick in their power bills from an increase of about 8 percent in August. That meant an increase in a 1,000 kilowatt-hour monthly residential bill of about $8.14, from $102.63 to $110.77, the company said.

State regulators have fined Lockheed Martin Corp. nearly $50,000 for violating Florida environmental laws when an estimated 5,000 gallons of untreated wastewater was released Aug. 3 from the company's on-site pump and treat system in Tallevast. The pump and treat system was cleaning contaminated groundwater from the source of Tallevast's plume. Toxic waste was found 25 feet away from the pumping system. The contamination penetrated the soil to a depth of six feet in the spill area, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.

I just completed reading your excellent editorial "Nuclear Waste - Radioactivity In The Backyard" [Monday] and said to myself: "Oh, no! Please tell me that Polk County will not be considered to be the dumping ground for nuclear waste in Florida." Those who say "It has to be in somebody's backyard" are unanimously those whose backyards are not being considered for garbage dumps - whether it's commercial, household or even nuclear.

Most of the nation has nowhere to send its low-level nuclear waste. It can't stop producing this waste. It's necessary for diagnosing and treating cancer and other diseases, and for research. But because there is nowhere to send the waste, it piles up in hospitals, other medical facilities and research centers. It's an illustration of our nation's inability to deal realistically with nuclear issues. Most of this waste used to be sent to South Carolina to the Barnwell Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility. It was the first such facility in the country when it began receiving radioactive waste in 1971. It is just one of three in the nation today.