Two Years For a Nuke Plant Permit

One Problem With Cap and Trade

June 30th, 2009

Cap and Trade, a bill made it through the House of Representatives last week, advocated by President Obama, will set up the first mandatory U.S. greenhouse gas limits on oil refineries, power plants and other industrial facilities.

Progress Energy is a power company that generates electricity for hundreds of thousands of homes in Florida and beyond. I want to discuss the effects Cap and Trade may have on Progress Energy, specifically the power plants located at Crystal River.

Crystal River Units 1&2 are two of the oldest and dirtiest coal burning plants in the southeast. They are the type of plants the Cap and Trade legislation would force companies like Progress Energy to upgrade or replace altogether. Not a bad plan, clean up the air and reduce the CO2 emissions. Win Win, ummm, lose.

The big problem is Progress Energy wants nothing more than to replace Crystal River’s Units 1&2 – they would like to do it at the soonest. The company cannot just shut the plants off, Florida is a big state with lots of electricity hungry residents – other plants must be built and online before shut down can commence.

The “tax” Cap and Trade will be levied on the company will be passed on to the customers. So not only will Florida take the major hit from the current recession it will also pay even more for electricity for the foreseeable future after Cap and Trade takes effect. The soonest those dirty plants can be turned off is projected to be late 2016, and that is only if everything goes smoothly from here.

Progress energy has applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for permits to build nuclear power plants about 10 north of the Crystal River power plant’s site. It will take a minimum of about TWO years for approval of the permits putting ground breaking at the earliest mid to late 2011.

My suggestions to the Senate – if you must pass this legislation please figure out a way to speed up the approval process for beginning construction of nuclear power plants across our country! A minimum of two years to test the soil and clear the paperwork is about a year and a half too long. Use the stimulus money you have left over and increase the NRC staff to get this done – I know those in Florida would appreciate it. OR, kill the bill altogether, yea lets go with that choice – makes more sense anyway – Floridians can’t afford it until 2017 at the earliest.

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