State Public Service Commission Approves New Nuclear Reactors for Plant Vogtle in Eastern Georgia

The state Public Service Commission approved Georgia Power's plan to build two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle, near Augusta.

The panel voted 4-1 on Tuesday.

Set to be completed in 2017, the reactors could be the first new nuclear units to start construction in the nation since the 1970s. The proposal must also receive an OK from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Georgia Power said the $14 billion project is needed to meet surging electricity demand in Georgia. But critics say there are questions about where the waste would be stored.

The legislature has passed a bill that would allow the utility to collect about $1.6 billion in costs from ratepayers before the reactors go online. Gov. Sonny Perdue must still sign the bill.

(AP)

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U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Wants More Information About Radioactive Waste Disposal

A panel of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it wants further study of how a nuclear power plant will dispose of low-level radioactive waste if it builds two new proposed nuclear reactors.

The NRC panel says Southern Nuclear Operating Company, which manages Plant Vogtle in Burke County near Augusta, has not given enough information on its plans to dispose of low-level radioactive waste for the proposed reactors. The panel says that warrants additional review and debate.

The issue has come up in the NRC's licensing process for the reactors.

Opponents of the reactors call it a setback for Vogtle.

But Southern Nuclear officials say the company has full confidence that the NRC will grant the license.

The company plans to dispose about 95 percent of its low-level radioactive waste from the reactors at a site in Utah, according to Beth Thomas, a spokeswoman for Southern Nuclear. The plant already sends 95 percent of its low-level waste to the site.

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Georgia Public Service Commission considers rate increase for Georgia Power

The Georgia Public Service Commission began another round of hearings this week focusing on how to finance the construction of two new nuclear reactors at the Plant Vogtle power plant in eastern Georgia.

At issue...whether to let Georgia Power raise utility rates sooner, rather than later, to pay for two new nuclear reactors in Burke County, near Waynesboro.

Georgia Power says a rate increase beginning in 2011, while construction of the reactors is in progress, would cut billions of dollars in interest from construction costs.

The average residential utility customer, one whose power bill averages about $100 per month, would start off with an increase of $1.30 a month. The rates would increase each year, with those consumers paying at least $109 more a year by 2018.

"If you don't make any payments on the facility until it goes into service, then a large percentage of what our customers are going to be paying for is the accrual of interest," says Oscar Harper, a vice president at Georgia Power.

Harper estimates that increasing rates on the front end will save ratepayers money after the construction is completed.

But opponents of the reactors say that's risky, and unfair.

They held a press conference outside the PSC headquarters in Atlanta today.

"If you tried this is the competitive market, you'd be out of business instantly," says Neill Herring, a lobbyist and spokesman for the Georgia Sierra Club. "What if Kroger decided they wanted to charge more for groceries if they maybe wanted to build another store? You'd go to Publix. "Who do you go to if the power company does that?"

Construction on the proposed reactors would likely not begin before 2011, and that's only if federal officials approve it.

The hearings continue throughout most of the week.

The PSC will likely make its decision by March, although the state legislature can also vote on a rate increase.

For more information on the hearings, go to www.psc.state.ga.us.

Panel says no to charging ratepayers for nuclear reactors before construction

A panel of the Georgia Public Service Commission says Georgia Power should delay charging customers for construction of two new nuclear power plants in eastern Georgia.

Georgia Power wants to charge its ratepayers now for the construction of two new nuclear reactors at the Plant Vogtle power plant near Waynesboro. They say that would reduce the cost of the plant.

But an independent panel, the PSC's public advocacy staff, has recommended against that.

The panel says current ratepayers should not subsidize a plant that will serve future ratepayers. They say the construction costs should only factor into rates after the plant goes online in 2017, if the new reactors are approved.

Georgia Power is the primary owner of Plant Vogtle. The company estimates the cost of construction to be about $9.8 billion, with Georgia Power funding $4.5 billion. Georgia Power has said its share of the construction costs could increase to $6.4 billion with interest.

The panel's recommendation, meanwhile, is not final. The PSC will make that decision in March.

Eleven children found living in squalor in Burke County

In eastern Georgia, a remarkable and sad discovery...eleven youngsters living in squalid conditions.

The children range in age from nine months to 18.

Officials say they apparently lived in a cramped home in Burke County, with no electricity or water and little food.

They say some of the children tried to break into another house.

When deputies followed them home, they discovered the squalor.

Media reports say they've interviewed the mother, and are now searching for the children's father.

The parents could face criminal charges.

Officials say the state's Division of Children and Family Services is attempting to place the children into foster care.