“In an unregulated market, Georgia Power’s profits would be linked to its performance. It is only through the PSC’s authorization that Georgia Power has posted such large profits for its shareholders at the expense of the Georgia ratepaying public.”

Defenders of consumer choice and free markets rarely pay attention to the technical criticisms of nuclear generation by the often hysterical opponents of nuclear power. Therefore, it is a pleasant surprise to see sensible reasoning used to oppose the spread of this cost-prohibitive, subsidized source of electrical generation.

In Georgia, the utility and its regulators have heard the charges shown below and ignored them, likely because the facts cited cannot be refuted.

Here, in its entirety, is pre-filed testimony by Nuclear Watch South in question-and-answer format. 

DIRECT TESTIMONY AND EXHIBITS OF GLENN CARROLL ON BEHALF OF  NUCLEAR WATCH SOUTH

Part I: INTRODUCTION

Please state your name, profession, and business location.…

“Absolutely I think they should build another [nuclear plant], because I think they’ll get better at it, It’s the cleanest energy you can possibly have out there, and we’re gonna need a tremendous increase in energy production.” [Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), quoted in Politico. June 27, 2024]

Nuclear power is a government-created and government-enabled industry. It was born of government largesse and regulatory favor, led by these five policies:

• Federal research & development by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC, founded 1946)
• The Price-Anderson Act of 1957 limit on accident liability
• Five years of ‘free’ enriched uranium from AEC
• Federal jawboning to parties to construct plants
• State utility commissioners granting rate-base status for new plants

Nuclear’s history of cost overruns, construction delays, and in-progress cancellations speaks for itself. Suffice it to say that the free market would have never allowed this industry to jump from military applications to civilian ones.…

Ed. note: Nuclear Power is a much talked about technology in the current climate debate. Electricity veteran Ken Maize of Quad Report provides an update on three current nuclear issues: a new, mysterious NuScale power agreement; Plant Vogtle legal restitution; and the recommissioned 805-MW Palisades plant in Michigan.

NuScale’s Mystery Deal

NuScale Power has landed a deal with privately-owned blockchain data center developer Standard Power to provide two planned data centers in Pennsylvania and Ohio, 924-MW each, with electricity from arrays of NuScale’s 77-MW VOYGR small modular reactors, 12 for each data center. NuScale’s partner ENTRA1 Energy has the exclusive rights to develop, manage, own and operate energy production plants powered by NuScale’s SMRs.

NuScale (founded 2007) and ENTRA1 created an exclusive global partnership in 2022 to commercialize NuScale’s small modular reactors (SMRs). …

“The failure of the uncompleted V.C. Summer Units #2 and #3 ($10 billion), and the continuing woes at Vogtle, have marked the complete failure of Congress to create a ‘nuclear renaissance’ through the 2005 Energy Policy Act. The act provided for up to $8 billion each in ‘loan guarantees’ for new nuclear plants.”

“Nuclear ‘loan guarantees,’ it turns out, is a politically constructed term to cover the fact that the ‘guarantees’ are actually Treasury funds, and loan payments are made to the Treasury.”

The sun rises in the East and sets in the West. And Southern Company announces further delays in the startup of Georgia Power’s Vogtle Units 3 and 4, the only nuclear power plant under construction in the U.S.

In its annual financial report issued Feb. 16, Southern said it will push back the startup date for Unit 3 of the two-unit, Westinghouse AP-1000 reactor project to May or June of this year. …