NEI Nuclear Notes

Interesting doings in Florida today: The Florida Public Service Commission rejected arguments from environmentalists and clean-energy advocates and voted 3-1 today to approve a request by Progress Energy, and Florida Power & Light, to charge customers for four new nuclear power plants that wouldn't generate any voltage until 2017. It’s a first shot on this story and not completely accurate. True, four new units are involved. Two of them – Progress Energy’s – will be in Levy County – we wrote about them the other day. The other two – FPL’s - will be put in the existing plant at Turkey Point. In addition, FPL won approval to increase capacity at four units, two each at Turkey Point and St. Lucie. Likewise, Progress Energy will be able to increase capacity at one unit at Crystal River. We’d also call the “clean-energy advocates” phrase a bit misleading since nuclear advocates could call themselves that with equal validity. But why filter? We can go straight to the Fl...

If we didn’t like nuclear power very much and our arguments against it were running a little thin, we might consider using current events as a wedge. For example, you may have heard that the economy has been struggling. Hence: The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, which is opposing new nuclear plants in several states, will ask the PSC to re-evaluate the urgency for new nuclear energy in Florida given the recession and the slowing growth of the utilities' customer base. This comes from the Orlando Sentinel and nowhere in the story does the SACE say anything about mutated alligators making a meal out of grandma or radioactive sludge in the everglades. It’s all about the money – admittedly a big subject for all power plants, but most particularly for nuclear energy plants. So what is the response? Progress officials said Friday they have already taken into account the country's economic downturn and its project's construction delays by reducing how much they w...

From FP&L : Florida Power & Light Company today proposed making nuclear power a bigger part of Florida’s energy future. In the first step toward building two new nuclear power units at its Turkey Point generating complex, FPL filed its plans with the Florida Public Service Commission. FPL’s nuclear power expansion proposals, which place the utility at the forefront of new nuclear projects nationwide, are designed to meet its customers’ rapidly growing demand for emission-free electric power and protect Florida’s environment. “Additional nuclear energy can help supply reliable, affordable power to our customers while avoiding greenhouse gas emissions that scientists have determined contribute to climate change,” said Armando Olivera, FPL’s President. “Nuclear power helps to meet Governor Charlie Crist’s goals for reducing emissions and diversifying our fuel sources.” Today’s filing, seeking what is called a determination of need by the Public Service Commission (PSC), was the...

Details from the Palm Beach Post . For some more data on power uprates at U.S. nuclear plants, click here , here and here .

That's the question in Florida, and the topic of a new post from We Support Lee .

From Gainesville.com : In a move that could provide more financial incentive for building nuclear power plants, the Florida Public Service Commission on Tuesday adopted new rules that will let investor-owned utility companies recover some of the costs of the new plants before they begin operation. The immediate beneficiary of the rule change could be Progress Energy, which is taking steps to build the state's first nuclear power plant since 1977, when the company began operating its Crystal River facility. Progress Energy has identified a 3,000-acre site in Levy County eight miles north of the Crystal River complex as the possible location for a new nuclear plant.