The ongoing battle over the proposed reactor at the existing Calvert Cliffs, MD nuclear power plant is shaping up to be do-or-die for the U.S. nuclear power industry, according to a report in Carbon Control News.
The Constellation Energy-Electricite de France joint project moved a step closer to reality on April 28 when the Maryland Public Service commission recommended that initial construction on the reactor be allowed to commence. Then on May 19, the proposed reactor became one of four projects to be considered by the Department of Energy for part of the $18.5 billion in federal loan guarantees available for new nuclear projects. At least $10 billion in loan guarantees are needed for the plant to proceed, according to Constellation.
But the greens are claiming that the project’s 49.99% ownership by Electricitie de France would allow a foreign government to control a U.S. nuclear reactor and are raising concerns about Constellation’s finances, including its ability to secure financing for the eventual decommissioning of the plant.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce told Carbon Control News that the Calvert Cliffs project,
“… will have a ridiculously huge bearing over what happens with the rest of the industry.”
The greens are downplaying the notion of any imminent “nuclear renaissance” since only four applications have been filed with the DOE for loan guarantees. The anti-nuclear group Public Citizen told Carbon Control News,
“Four applicants is not a renaissance.”
Why construct a nuclear reactor when we could just put up some windmills? A 2400 MW two tower reactor would run 24/7 except for maintenance, ours ran 24/7 for an entire year without faltering. Susquehanna Nuclear.
Instead we could a nice eco friendly wind farm of 4500 x 2 MW wind turbines each working on average 27% of the year.
The Nuclear Reactor would need about 50 acres of land, neat and tidy with one fence around it. The wind farm would rise majestically over 4500 times 4 acres of clear cut or about 18,000 acres. Aren’t there some ridges in your scenic Western Maryland that would be perfect for these farms? The 18,000 acres is only 28 square miles of turbines on your mountaintops?
Surely the Audubon Society and Sierra Club are going to nature destroying Nuc.’s and DEMAND Wind Power for their supporters!
http://nofreewind.blogspot.com/2009/06/replacing-nuclear-power-plants-in.html