Shaw ready for new nuclear plant project
The nation’s first new nuclear power plant in a generation won approval Thursday as federal regulators voted to grant a license for two new reactors in Georgia that will involve Baton Rouge-based engineering and construction firm Shaw Group Inc.
The design and construction of the reactors will be overseen by Shaw. The project is in partnership with Westinghouse Electric Co.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted 4-1 to approve Atlanta-based Southern Co.’s request to build two nuclear reactors at its Vogtle site south of Augusta, along the South Carolina line.
“Shaw is proud to be part of such a historic project,” J.M. Bernhard Jr., Shaw’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
The Vogtle project has been estimated to cost up to $14 billion. In past talks with analysts about its nuclear projects, Bernhard has estimated Shaw’s revenue at each nuclear site at more than $4 billion.
“Not only is this milestone another step forward in continuing to provide safe, clean and reliable energy for the future, but the project also will create thousands of jobs and provide numerous long-term benefits for the Georgia community,” Bernhard added. “Shaw anticipates hiring approximately 3,500 employees during construction of the new units at Vogtle, with thousands more jobs created as a result of construction and operation of the reactors.”
The vote clears the way for officials to issue an operating license for the reactors, which could begin operating as soon as 2016 and 2017.
The NRC last approved construction of a nuclear plant in 1978, a year before a partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania raised fears of a radiation release and brought new reactor orders nearly to a halt.
NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko voted against the Vogtle license, saying he wanted a binding commitment from the company that it would make safety changes prompted by the March nuclear disaster in Japan.
“We’ve given them a license. They have not given us any commitment they will make these changes in the future,” Jaczko said.
Shaw officials contend the AP1000 Westinghouse reactor technology is the latest and safest on the market, and able to shut down safely without any operator action and without the need for electric power or pumps.
“The issue at Fukushima had to do with failure of the AC generators following the tsunami,” said Gentry Brann, a spokeswoman for Shaw. “This would not have been an issue for the AP1000 technology.”
Shaw also provides maintenance services to 44 of the 104 nuclear power operating units in the United States — more than any other provider in the country, the company points out.
“So we believe we are well-positioned for any modifications that may be required as a result of Fukushima,” Brann said.
The meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant led to a series of recommendations by the NRC to improve safety at the 104 commercial nuclear reactors in the U.S. The changes are intended to make the plants better prepared for incidents they were not initially designed to handle, such as prolonged power blackouts or damage to multiple reactors at the same time.
The changes are still being developed, though Jaczko said it is clear that they will be required by the NRC before the new reactors open in 2016 or 2017.
Despite his opposition to the license, Jaczko called the vote “historic” and a culmination of years of work by Southern Co. and the NRC.
Southern Co. Chairman and CEO Thomas A. Fanning called the NRC vote “a monumental accomplishment for Southern Co., Georgia Power, our partners and the nuclear industry,” which provides power from south Mississippi to northeast Georgia, a region that will use 21 percent more electricity by 2030.
Fanning said the company is “committed to bringing these units online to deliver clean, safe and reliable energy to our customers.”
“The project is on track, and our targets related to cost and schedule are achievable,” Fanning said.
Allison Fisher, an energy expert for the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, called the NRC’s action — less than a year after the Japan crisis — a step in the wrong direction.
“It is inexplicable that we’ve chosen this moment in history to expand the use of a failed and dangerous technology,” she said.
While other countries such as Germany are reversing their commitment to nuclear power, “the U.S. is approving new reactors before the full suite of lessons from Japan has been learned and before new safety regulations that were recommended by a task force established after the meltdown crisis at Fukushima have been implemented,” Fisher said.
President Barack Obama has offered the Vogtle project $8.3 billion in federal loan guarantees as part of its pledge to expand nuclear power.
Obama and other proponents say greater use of nuclear power could cut the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels and create energy without producing emissions blamed for global warming.
Associated Press writer Matthew Daly and Advocate business writer Skip Descant contributed to this report.