Nuke opponents protest Plant Vogtle on Fukushima disaster anniversary
Activists warn of rising energy bills to pay for new nuke reactors
- Joeff Davis
- Manisha Lance holds a sign during yesterday’s protest against the construction of new nuclear reactors in Georgia.
About 30 people gathered outside the 10th Street MARTA station in the rain yesterday, banging drums and holding signs protesting nuclear power. Yesterday marked the second anniversary of a tsunami that led to the meltdown of three reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, causing the second-worst nuclear accident in history. “Tens of thousands of people” are believed to have lost their homes and, according to Bloomberg, it might take more than 40 years to decontaminate the area around the plant.
Georgia has become a battleground in the fight against nuclear power in the United States. Last year, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a federal agency that regulates nuclear power plants, approved Atlanta-based Southern Company’s plan to construct new reactors near Augusta at Plant Vogtle. The two proposed reactors, located 175 miles from Atlanta, are the first new power plants to be constructed in the country in 30 years. The last reactors to get the green light were approved shortly before the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1978.
The latest news on the construction is that cost overruns that Georgia Power denied to CL last summer are now a reality. The Associated Press reported in late February that Southern Company is asking regulators to raise its budget by $737 million, bringing the total cost to $6.85 billion. Utility executives have also acknowledged that they will finish construction more than one year later than they anticipated.
The overruns will likely be paid for by Georgia Power ratepayers because of a law approved in 2009 by the Georgia General Assembly that allows the utility to charge customers to help pay for the reactors’ financing costs before the units are constructed (on online bills, the charge appears as a “Nuclear Construction Cost Recovery Fee”). The fee appears on Georgia Power ratepayers’ monthly bills - currently it’s $5.11 for the average customer, a utility spokesman says - and increases each year. Only when the reactors start producing power - whenever that is - will the fee go away.
“If the Public Service Commission rules that the overruns are prudent, and they almost always side with Georgia Power, then they will be allowed to pass the overruns onto customers,” said Courtney Hanson of the Stop Plant Vogtle campaign, who helped organize yesterday’s protest. “By legislation, Georgia Power is guaranteed an 11.15 percent return on their investment, so all the financial risks are on Georgia Power customers.”
So look for your Georgia Power bill to steadily increase to pay for the reactors and overruns. Unless, of course, opponents are able to stop the new reactors’ construction, which Hanson thinks is not too late to do.