The Nuclear Retreat
We coined the term, "Nuclear Retreat" here at Beyond Nuclear to counter the nuclear industry's preposterous "nuclear renaissance" propaganda campaign. You've probably seen "Nuclear Retreat" picked up elsewhere and no wonder - the alleged nuclear revival so far looks more like a lot of running away. On this page we will keep tabs on every latest nuclear retreat as more and more proposed new nuclear programs are canceled.
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NRC has identified significant safety issues with the shield structure on the AP1000 reactor design, potentially signaling delays for nearly half of proposed reactors.
The nuclear industry's steady march in retreat continued when the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) announced it would not go forward with three of four new reactors planned for its Bellefonte site. TVA has scaled back its ambitions to just one new reactor according to reports. The Bellefonte site already has two incomplete reactors mothballed since 1988.
AmerenUE announced that it has canceled its plans to build a new 1,600 megawatt-electric French Areva "Evolutionary Power Reactor" at its Callaway nuclear power plant in central Missouri. The project’s biggest stumbling block was Missouri's anti-CWIP law. "Construction Work in Progress" (CWIP) allows a nuclear utility to recover the construction costs of a reactor before the reactor actually operates. Ratepayers pay this cost through their current electricity bill even though the reactor has not produced any power. Like federal taxpayer loan guarantees, CWIP is a way to overcome private investors' wise aversion to the large financial risks of new reactor loans.
The license-extension for the oldest reactor—Oyster Creek in New Jersey— is facing a serious setback as a coalition of activists, including Beyond Nuclear, have succeeded in taking their challenge to the license renewal to federal court.
Although 8,000 uranium mining claims have targeted the Grand Canyon over the past several years, Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, has called a “two-year hold” on all new hard rock uranium mining claims over a million acre area in the National Park.
December 3, 2009