Safety panel has a concern on Texas nuclear plant
Aug 29 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Tom Fowler Houston Chronicle
>
> Plans to expand the South Texas Project nuclear power plant
> will have
> to take into account how a serious accident at one of the reactors
> would
> affect the other units, a federal safety panel ruled.
>
> Opponents of the project to add two more reactors to the pair now
> operating at the plant near Bay City raised 28 points of contention
> with the
> license application. Among concerns were a lack of a long-term storage
> facility for spent nuclear fuel and how the need for more reactor
> cooling
> water would affect the Colorado River.
>
> The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel rejected 18
> contentions
> and nine are still pending.
>
> Karen Hadden, executive director of the SEED Coalition, a group
> opposing the expansion, called the decision "a major victory for those
> living in the South Texas Project region."
>
> "The decision recognizes that the South Texas Project reactor
> application is still inadequate, two years after it was submitted,"
> Hadden
> said.
>
> David Knox, a spokesman for NRG Energy, which has a 44 percent
> stake
> in the project and is leading the expansion effort, said the company
> is
> pleased with the overall ruling.
>
> "It allows public input to continue and it shows the strength
> of the
> South Texas Project application," Knox said.
>
> The applicants will address the single contention and are
> confident
> that regulators will find that the expanded plant can operate safety
> to meet
> power demands, with construction set to begin in 2012, Knox said.
>
> No hearing date was set.
>
> Earlier this month the panel ruled that groups opposing the
> expansion
> of the Comanche Peak nuclear plant in North Texas could intervene on
> two
> points -- the same severe accident issue and one on how renewable
> energy
> sources, natural gas power and advances in energy storage would
> affect the
> projects.
>
> The renewable energy issue was rejected in the South Texas
> Project
> filing.
>
> [email protected]
>
> Plans to expand the South Texas Project nuclear power plant
> will have
> to take into account how a serious accident at one of the reactors
> would
> affect the other units, a federal safety panel ruled.
>
> Opponents of the project to add two more reactors to the pair now
> operating at the plant near Bay City raised 28 points of contention
> with the
> license application. Among concerns were a lack of a long-term storage
> facility for spent nuclear fuel and how the need for more reactor
> cooling
> water would affect the Colorado River.
>
> The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel rejected 18
> contentions
> and nine are still pending.
>
> Karen Hadden, executive director of the SEED Coalition, a group
> opposing the expansion, called the decision "a major victory for those
> living in the South Texas Project region."
>
> "The decision recognizes that the South Texas Project reactor
> application is still inadequate, two years after it was submitted,"
> Hadden
> said.
>
> David Knox, a spokesman for NRG Energy, which has a 44 percent
> stake
> in the project and is leading the expansion effort, said the company
> is
> pleased with the overall ruling.
>
> "It allows public input to continue and it shows the strength
> of the
> South Texas Project application," Knox said.
>
> The applicants will address the single contention and are
> confident
> that regulators will find that the expanded plant can operate safety
> to meet
> power demands, with construction set to begin in 2012, Knox said.
>
> No hearing date was set.
>
> Earlier this month the panel ruled that groups opposing the
> expansion
> of the Comanche Peak nuclear plant in North Texas could intervene on
> two
> points -- the same severe accident issue and one on how renewable
> energy
> sources, natural gas power and advances in energy storage would
> affect the
> projects.
>
> The renewable energy issue was rejected in the South Texas
> Project
> filing.
>
> [email protected]