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Progress Energy's plans to build a $17 billion nuclear plant in rural Levy County will do more than just add advance charges to its customers' utility bills. The utility's plans also calls for wiping out about 765 acres of wetlands, according to a public notice posted recently by the agency that issues federal wetland permits, the Army Corps of Engineers. Yet Progress Energy plans to do little to replace their beneficial effect on the underground aquifer - even as the new power plant slurps up more than 1 million gallons of water a day from that source. At its peak, the plant could use more than 5 million gallons a day.

"* To suspend $10 bln in investment over next 5 years * Cites deteriorating regulatory environment in Florida * Progress Energy sees similar regulatory action * FPL shares off 3 pct, Progress shares edge up - FPL Group Inc, owner of the largest utility in Florida, said it would halt spending on projects in the state representing about $10 billion of investment over the next five years because of a deteriorating regulatory environment. The Florida Public Service Commission on Wednesday unanimously rejected FPL's request to raise its base rates by 30 percent, or $1.3 billion, and instead allowed an increase of $75.4 million."

In January, customers of Progress Energy Florida will begin paying the pre-construction costs for two new nuclear reactors planned in Levy County. The St. Petersburg-based utility won approval from the Florida Public Service Commission on Tuesday to pass on the costs to customers. For residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month, the monthly electric bill will increase $11.42, or 10 percent, to $122.01.

"Facing South reports: Emergencies were declared at two Progress Energy nuclear power plants in the Carolinas over the weekend due to fires. There was also a fire at a nuclear power plant in Ohio on Sunday that sent two firefighters to the hospital. The blazes were put out and disaster averted, but the incidents underscore concerns about U.S. nuclear plants' failure to comply with fire safety regulations. The first incident happened on Friday night at the Brunswick plant near Wilmington, N.C. At about 10:45 p.m., a fire broke out in the turbine building on the plant's non-nuclear side, burning for more than 15 minutes. Plant personnel determined that the fire was caused by electric blankets used for post-weld heat treatments, fueled by tape used to hold the blankets together."

Utility officials and regulators next week will review an analysis of what caused a crack in the concrete wall of the Crystal River nuclear plant's containment building. Progress Energy also will present repair plans for the crack discovered Oct. 2 as the utility was cutting a hole in the containment building wall to replace two generators. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will also share its findings of what caused the concrete in the 42-inch-thick wall that surrounds the nuclear reactor to crack. The NRC sent its own team of inspectors to survey the plant.

A federal court awarded Progress Energy $82.8 million to cover the company's costs related to storing spent nuclear fuel at its plants in the Carolinas. The Raleigh company, along with other utilities, sued the Department of Energy to cover its costs after the government failed to open a repository for used nuclear fuel by 1998, as required by law.

"North Carolina's power companies outlined their long-term planning and resource proposals for the N.C. Utilities Commission this week. But commission Chairman Ed Finley had his own proposal for them - get serious about joint construction of nuclear plants. Duke Energy Carolinas and Progress Energy Carolinas both plan to build nuclear plants in the next 10 years or so. And each identifies those plants as key to meeting customer demand while also reining in carbon emissions. But the costs of building those facilities could total $11 billion or more. And that would be more than the market value of either investor-owned utility."

RALEIGH - The nuclear plant design favored for new plants by Progress Energy, Duke Energy and three other utilities is the subject of multiple design changes that energy industry watchdogs say undermine the concept of a pre-certified design and could delay the construction of new reactors while adding billions to the cost. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission certified the plant design of Westinghouse Electric Co.'s AP1000 at the end of 2005. Pre-certification was intended to help streamline an approvals process that takes years before plant construction even begins.

Florida is hungrier than ever for more energy, and nuclear energy could be where to get it. A new plant could generate enough power for more than 1 billion homes along the I-4 corridor, but getting the green light from regulators could be tough. "For me, I was raised by a scientist and an engineer, and it's just a bad investment," said Holly Binns, field director of Environment Florida.

U.S. Congressman Charlie Gonzalez wanted two things out of the Waxman-Markey climate bill: assistance for the nuclear industry, and free pollution credits for utilities like our City-owned CPS Energy. He nailed free pollution days before the legislation was voted out of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce last week by requiring most carbon credits to be given away to industry rather than auctioned off. This industry-friendly change, among others, outraged the environmental community, most of whom still felt pressured to support the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 in order to make some progress towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Remarkably, however, amid the bill's 170,000 words, "nuclear" gets hardly a mention.

When Barack Obama was campaigning for president, he unveiled an eight-page energy plan with progressive gestures toward renewables and conservation, green jobs and green technologies. Then, on page six, Obama dropped the n-bomb: "Nuclear power represents more than 70 percent of our noncarbon-generated electricity. It is unlikely that we can meet our aggressive climate goals if we eliminate nuclear power as an option." Obama's Energy Secretary, Stephen Chu, echoed these sentiments during his confirmation hearings in January. Even while acknowledging nuclear energy's persistent and unresolved problems with funding and waste disposal, Chu told the Senate committee that the "nuclear industry is, should have to be, part of our energy mix in this century." Nuclear, it appears, is now officially part of the solution, a potentially radical shift in consciousness 30 years after 1979's Three Mile Island disaster.

"Sofia. EUR 860 million would cost the decommissioning of two units of the Kozloduy NPP until 2013, Jeffrey Van Orden, MEP and speaker in the European Parliament on Bulgaria's progress on its path to EU membership said during round table on "Belene NPP project and European energy security: Bulgarian dilemmas", a reporter of FOCUS News Agency announced. According to Order closure of the two units, has previously been unnecessary and this has led to increasing use of polluting lignite coals, the reduction of energy exports of Bulgaria and increasing prices of electricity. In his words should seek the best decision regarding the correct way of disposing of nuclear waste. Order stated that the Nabucco project will enable the supply of Caspian gas to Bulgaria and is important for diversification of supply. In his words Bulgaria can be an energy hub in the Balkans. "

Progress Energy Florida, Inc. Acceptance for Docketing of an Application for Combined License for Levy County Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 and 2 By letter dated July 28, 2008, Progress Energy Florida, Inc. (PEF) submitted an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a combined license (COL) for two AP1000 advanced passive pressurized water reactors in accordance with the requirements contained in 10 CFR 52, ``Licenses, Certifications and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.'' These reactors will be identified as Levy Nuclear Power Plant (LNP) Units 1 and 2 and located at a site in Levy County, Florida. A notice of receipt and availability of this application is currently awaiting publication in the Federal Register.

As one of Florida's largest utilities prepared to unveil details about its nuclear plans in March 2008, its executives showed a noticeable wariness about one detail in particular: the price. At Progress Energy Florida's new St. Petersburg headquarters, the top brass carefully husbanded their latest estimates. As the date of their public filing neared, the utility's executives arranged meetings with newspaper editors throughout its territory. Bill Johnson, chairman, president and CEO of the Florida utility's parent company, flew down from North Carolina for a meeting with Governor Charlie Crist. Progress Energy's extraordinary care acknowledged that the "nuclear renaissance" perched delicately on the public's goodwill. An erosion of public support could shake the political support that new nuclear has lately enjoyed. Florida wouldn't be the only casualty; 21 other new nuclear projects have been announced throughout the U.S.

On Thursday, September 25, 2008, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management (EM) James A. Rispoli will provide an update on the Environmental Management program to the Environmental Management Advisory Board (EMAB). Assistant Secretary Rispoli will update the Board on the Department's progress at cleaning up nuclear waste from the nation's former weapons production program.

Chairman and CEO of Progress Energy Jeff Lyash acknowledges that we must address America's power demands as they pertain to economic and environmental issues. His solution is clean coal and more nuclear power. Fossil fuels should be short term bridge to clean, renewable energy sources. But make no mistake, there is no such thing as clean coal and nuclear power is neither clean nor cheap.

"The latest progress report from UK nuclear safety regulators has made the best-case completion of the Generic Design Assessment process seem unlikely. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said detailed examination of the Areva EPR and Westinghouse AP1000 was well underway and making reasonable progress with a rapidly increasing workrate. However, it is facing a deadline of June 2011 when it is meant to issue the most meaningful design acceptance certificates that it can for the reactors. While most plant systems and features have posed no substantial problem, there remain some that could potentially have to be dealt with under separate processes which extend the overall GDA effort beyond June 2011. As well as acceptance certificates, the HSE said it is planning to publish "a suite of progress reports" in June 2011 "together with the requesting parties' resolution plans for any outstanding issues relating to GDA." "

Florida approved a nuclear plant for the first time in more than three decades. The plant would be built in Levy County. TALLAHASSEE -- Over the objections of some residents, elected officials and environmental groups, the governor and the Cabinet on Tuesday embraced Progress Energy's controversial proposal to build a nuclear plant in Levy County -- the first such plant approved in Florida in 33 years. The vote by Gov. Charlie Crist, Attorney General Bill McCollum and Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink is not the final hurdle for Progress' plant, which still needs to secure federal approval. But the unanimous Cabinet endorsement -- with Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson absent -- helps cement what is likely to be a new era of nuclear plant construction, with Florida Power & Light also planning to build a new nuclear plant, at Turkey Point in Miami-Dade County.

Part 1 presented a new study by power plant cost expert Craig Severance that puts the generation costs for power from new nuclear plants at from 25 to 30 cents per kilowatt-hour - triple current U.S. electricity rates! Those ideologically promiscuous folks at the Heritage Foundation have replied with "New Study on Staggering Cost of Nuclear Energy, Staggeringly Pessimistic." Craig's point by point response follows a few of my comments. Heritage is a leader of the conservative movement stagnation. They have written "the only thing a green 'New Deal' will do is lead us down a Green Road to Serfdom," comparing such a policy to "collectivism in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany," and their Senior Policy Analyst in Energy Economics and Climate Change is quite confused about both of the subjects he analyzes (see "Heritage even opposes energy efficiency").

In 152 more months the cost will be $102 billion (Reactors likely ...): Building two nuclear reactors in Wake County could cost Progress Energy customers more than $9.3 billion. Thecost estimate, disclosed this month to the U.S. Nuclear RegulatoryCommission, is Progress Energy's latest projection for the ShearonHarris proposal. It doubles the previous estimate of $4.4 billionprovided in February, when the Raleigh utility applied to the NRC for alicense to build two reactors at the site in Wake County.