Vogtle 5? Big Nuclear Looks to Big Government

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 15, 2024 3 Comments

“Absolutely I think they should build another [nuclear plant], because I think they’ll get better at it, It’s the cleanest energy you can possibly have out there, and we’re gonna need a tremendous increase in energy production.” [Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), quoted in Politico. June 27, 2024]

Nuclear power is a government-created and government-enabled industry. It was born of government largesse and regulatory favor, led by these five policies:

  • Federal research & development by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC, founded 1946)
  • The Price-Anderson Act of 1957 limit on accident liability
  • Five years of ‘free’ enriched uranium from AEC
  • Federal jawboning to parties to construct plants
  • State utility commissioners granting rate-base status for new plants

Nuclear’s history of cost overruns, construction delays, and in-progress cancellations speaks for itself. Suffice it to say that the free market would have never allowed this industry to jump from military applications to civilian ones.…

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Nuclear News …. Little Good

By Kennedy Maize -- February 9, 2024 No Comments

Ed. Note: The news about nuclear is not good, which has been true for the last 70 years. Kennedy Maize at the Quad Report has the latest.

Holtec Decommissioning Scandal (800 MW Palisades)

New Jersey-based Holtec International on January 30th  agreed to pay its home state a $5 million fine in order to avoid criminal prosecution for falsifying documents related to a 2018 state-awarded tax break program.

The development in New Jersey could scuttle widespread rumors, most likely spread by Holtec, that the U.S. Department of Energy is about to loan the company $1.5 billion for its project to recommission the shuttered 800-MW Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan. Bloomberg first reported the rumor, commenting that the DOE loan would be “the latest sign of strengthening federal government support for the atomic industry.”…

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An Exchange with PUC Candidate Patty Durand: Question Climate Alarmism

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 14, 2023 1 Comment

“I assume you think the earth is flat and dinosaurs never existed and the sun rotates around the earth and vaccines don’t work? I mean, since science isn’t real…” (Durand to Bradley)

“The ‘settled science’ is toward the benefits of CO2 fertilization. The middle-way science in the face of climate models and other uncertainties is global lukewarming, with positives as well as negatives.” (Bradley to Durand)

Patty Durand is a candidate for the Georgia Public Service Commission special election. She is rightly critical of Plant Vogtle #3 and #4 but falls off the cliff when it comes to climate alarmism and forced energy transformation. Patty is in the tank of the climate industrial complex, the sea of cronies not unlike her enemy, Georgia Power Company (Southern Company). [1]

Our exchange began with her post that began:

Do you care about climate change?

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Nuclear Go-Round: NuScale, Vogtle, Palisades

By Kennedy Maize -- October 17, 2023 1 Comment

Ed. note: Nuclear Power is a much talked about technology in the current climate debate. Electricity veteran Ken Maize of Quad Report provides an update on three current nuclear issues: a new, mysterious NuScale power agreement; Plant Vogtle legal restitution; and the recommissioned 805-MW Palisades plant in Michigan.

NuScale’s Mystery Deal

NuScale Power has landed a deal with privately-owned blockchain data center developer Standard Power to provide two planned data centers in Pennsylvania and Ohio, 924-MW each, with electricity from arrays of NuScale’s 77-MW VOYGR small modular reactors, 12 for each data center. NuScale’s partner ENTRA1 Energy has the exclusive rights to develop, manage, own and operate energy production plants powered by NuScale’s SMRs.

NuScale (founded 2007) and ENTRA1 created an exclusive global partnership in 2022 to commercialize NuScale’s small modular reactors (SMRs). …

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Electricity Competition in Georgia

By Jim Clarkson -- September 20, 2023 No Comments Continue Reading

Plant Vogtle (Georgia Power): What Now?

By Jim Clarkson -- August 16, 2023 No Comments Continue Reading

Energy and Environmental Review: July 31, 2023

By -- July 31, 2023 No Comments Continue Reading

Southeast Ratebase Debacles: Tony Bartelme Revisited (nuclear, CO2 capture)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 6, 2023 1 Comment Continue Reading

GPSC Candidate Patty Durand: Plant Vogtle Miseries

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 29, 2023 No Comments Continue Reading

King Coal: India, Japan Update

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 15, 2023 1 Comment Continue Reading