Posted:
March 13, 2008
Editor’s note: This story appeared March 11 in the News and Observer of Raleigh, NC.
Building two nuclear reactors in Florida would cost
Progress Energy $17 billion, which would increase the bills of the company’s
customers in that state by an average of 3 percent to 4 percent a year for 10
years.
The cost estimates, to be filed with Florida regulators
today (March 11), are an early indication of Progress’ potential nuclear costs
in North Carolina. The utility, based in Raleigh, is considering two new
reactors at its Shearon Harris site in Wake County.
The reactors proposed in Florida -- the Westinghouse
AP1000 -- are the same models that Progress is planning at Shearon Harris.
The costs of building multibillion-dollar power plants
are paid by utility customers through their monthly bills over several decades.
Such costs have been shrouded in speculation as utilities, vendors and
manufacturers sought to promote a resurgence in nuclear power while avoiding
the negative repercussions of sticker shock.
Today’s filing before the Florida Public Service
Commission will be the subject of hearings in that state this year about the
need for nuclear plants. It’s one of the nation’s first cost estimates for new
reactors and is consistent with a recent appraisal from Florida Power &
Light for two Westinghouse units.
Progress officials promote nuclear energy as the cheapest
option for meeting growing energy demand. Several years ago, the company was
projecting a cost of $2 billion to $3 billion per reactor, but since then the
cost of labor and materials has skyrocketed amid increasing global demand for
energy.
Nuclear energy had stalled after the 1979 accident at
Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, but the technology has gained new advocates
because of concerns about global warming.
The operation of nuclear generators, unlike that of
coal-burning power plants, does not produce carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas
blamed for heating the planet. Supporters promote nuclear energy as a clean
fuel, despite its lethal byproduct: radioactive nuclear waste.
Nuclear critics who advocate renewable energy and
conservation programs are sure to seize on the newest estimates as evidence
that nuclear costs are spiraling out of control.
During the last period of nuclear expansion three decades
ago, critics say, utilities lowballed nuclear cost estimates only to revise
them mid-construction.
In the 1970s, for example, the construction of Shearon
Harris was originally projected to cost $1.1 billion for four reactors, but the
actual cost was $3.9 billion for one reactor. The other three reactors were
canceled amid cost overruns and reduced demand forecasts.
Progress is expected to submit a more detailed cost
estimate for the Florida nuclear plants in May.
The company’s nuclear cost estimates include financing,
land acquisition, construction, labor and regulatory fees.
Progress spokesman Rick Kimble warned against
extrapolating costs in North Carolina from the Florida estimates.
He noted that the utility has not signed a contract with
Westinghouse for reactors for North Carolina and could continue negotiating for
months. Progress officials have said they would not reveal cost estimates for
new reactors at Shearon Harris until the company negotiates a contract.
Progress’ Florida cost estimate includes $3 billion to
build about 200 miles of transmission lines and substations in 10 counties, an
expense not anticipated in North Carolina.
In this state, the new reactors would be placed at a site
that was designed for four reactors.
The Florida nuclear plants, however, would be built about
seven miles from the company’s Crystal River Nuclear Plant on 3,100 acres of
former timberland that Progress bought for about $43 million last year.
The first of Progress’ planned nuclear plants in Florida
is expected to begin operation in 2016, with the second unit going online in
2017.
In North Carolina, the first unit would begin operating
between 2018 and 2020 if the company decides it can afford to build it. A final
decision is at least a year away.