Battles against nuclear utility mega-money grabs intensify
This "Burning Money" graphic by Gene Case and Avenging Angels appeared on the front cover of The Nation magazine featuring a nuclear power exposé by Christian ParentiExelon Nuclear (IL, and the Mid-Atlantic)
Exelon, the biggest nuclear power utility in the U.S., with around two dozen atomic reactors in its fleet, suffered a big defeat on May 31st at midnight: the State of Illinois Legislature recessed till autumn, without granting it the $1.6 billion bailout -- at ratepayer and taxpayer expense -- it seeks in order to prop up five dirty, dangerous, and uncompetitive atomic reactors across the state.
Crain's Chicago Business editorial cartoonist Roger Schillerstrom elegantly summed up the situation with "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf." It depicts Exelon CEO Christopher Crane urging his own nuclear lobbyists to fearmonger harder about the supposed negative economic impact of the five reactors' closures. The question remains -- will the state legislature cave-in to such political posturing and pressure?
See Crain's coverage, "Exelon's nuke bailout DOE in Springfield--for now," by Steve Daniels.
The IL State Legislature will not cave, if Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS) has any say in the matter. As documented at its website, NEIS has long led the grassroots resistance against this nuclear money grab. Beyond Nuclear attended NEIS's 34th annual meeting in Chicago last Sunday.
However, as reflected in a letter from 13 of IL's 15 U.S. Representatives to IL State decision makers, Exelon's lobbyists and campaign contributions wield tremendous political power. So, the fight in IL will only intensify in the weeks and months ahead...
In the Mid-Atlantic region, the District of Columbia Public Service Commission (DC PSC) will cast the deciding vote on whether or not Exelon Nuclear will be allowed to takeover the regional electric utility Pepco. PSCs in Maryland, as well as in Virginia and Delaware, have already signed off on the merger. Groups like Public Citizen, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and PowerDC have led the charge in opposition to the consolidation, and have pulled out all the stops to urge D.C.'s mayor and city council to not buckle under, and instead to weigh in with the PSC, before it's too late.
It's clear to Exelon watchdogs that if the nuclear utility takes over Pepco, not only will it attempt to "kill the competition" (efficiency and renewables), it will also gouge ratepayers, and funnel the money back to IL to prop up its failing nukes (as well as to bolster its underfunded nuclear decommissioning funds). Since taking over Constellation Energy/Baltimore Gas & Electric a few years ago, Exelon has successfully lobbied the MD PSC to increase electric rates several times.
FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company
FENOC owns and operates the problem-plagued Davis-Besse atomic reactor just east of Toledo on northwest OH's Lake Erie shore. Beyond Nuclear and environmental allies like Citizen Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don't Waste MI, and the Green Party of OH have intervened against Davis-Besse's proposed 20-year license extension since Dec. 2010.
Last year, FENOC applied to the Public Utility Commission of Ohio (PUCO) for over $3 billion in ratepayer subsidies, to prop up not only its failing Davis-Besse reactor, but also its age-degraded and polluting Sammis coal burner in southern OH, on the Ohio River.
Ironically enough, $3 billion is roughly what it would take to replace Davis-Besse's severely cracked Shield Building, an essential component of the radiological containment structure. But there are no plans to replace it, only to continue operating the age-degraded reactor, lacking a sound containment, till 2037!
The concrete Shield Building began cracking before reactor operations began in 1977. The cracking began to grow much worse in 1978. And to this day, cracking has grown by a half-inch, every single time it freezes along the Lake Erie shore -- numerous times each year, in autumn, winter, and spring -- due to "ice-wedging crack propagation."
As with Exelon's five reactors in IL, FENOC's lobbyists' deadline for "do or die" ratepayer subsidies has come and gone at Davis-Besse. The PUCO hearings on the matter won't even begin till June 15th.
Sierra Club (which joined with Beyond Nuclear and other environmental allies in an unsuccessful attempt to block FENOC's risky, experimental steam generator replacements in 2013) has officially intervened against the nuclear and coal bailout, and has called for a rally at PUCO's front entrance the day the hearings begin. Beyond Nuclear will be there, and plans to be a part of a coalition teach-in, tenatively being organized in Columbus, OH for the day before the hearings begin.
See Beyond Nuclear's "Nuclear Costs" website section for additional information.
June 4, 2015