Nuclear powerNRC approves first new nuke reactors since 1978

The NRC has approved construction of two new reactors at Plant Vogtle // Source: nrc.gov

For the first time since 1978, U.S. nuclear regulators have approved the construction of a new nuclear power plant.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently voted four-to-one in favor of granting Southern Co. a license to build two additional reactors at its Plant Vogtle nuclear facility near Augusta, Georgia.

USA Todayreports that the decision comes over the staunch objections of local residents, environmental groups, and even Gregory Jaczko, the NRC’s chairman.

Jaczko said he could not approve of the reactors without a firm commitment from Southern Co. that it would implement additional safety measures and incorporate lessons learned from the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi atomic energy plant in Japan.

Thomas Fanning, the president and CEO of Southern Co., sought to assuage critics by assuring them the company had “taken into account” the lessons learned from Japan. In addition, Fanning said the company would adopt necessary safety changes once an analysis of the Japanese nuclear disaster is completed.

According to USA Today, critics were not mollified.

Some residents living near Plant Vogtle argue that since the facility opened in 1987 instances of cancer have increased.

“I think it’s a sad day for the people who live in this area,” Willie Tomlin, a pastor at Thomas Grove Baptist Church in Waynesboro, told USA Today. “The people who live here have not been looked after for the first two reactors. If that was not the case, we would not have had this serious increase in cancer that we’ve had since they came online.”

Meanwhile nine environmental groups plan to mount a challenge in federal court.

Stephen Smith, the executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said the NRC’s approval process was rushed and that regulators did not incorporate lessons from Japan’s accident.

“In a very literal sense, the rubble has not cooled in Japan, and the NRC has granted a license for a new, unproven reactor design here in the United States,” Smith said.

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy along with the eight other groups including Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, Center for a Sustainable Coast, and Nuclear Watch South are pushing for federal judges to require the NRC to conduct a new environmental impact statement for the new reactors. In particular the new statement should explain how cooling systems for the reactors and spent fuel storage pools will be upgraded to protect against earthquakes, flooding and prolonged loss of electrical power.

The latest approval is the first new license the NRC has granted since 1978, the year before the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear facility in Pennsylvania.

Southern Co. plans to begin operating the new units in 2016 and 2017. The project will cost more than $14 billion and generate as many as 5,000 construction jobs, which has swayed some local residents.

Plant Vogtle is Burke County’s largest employer and accounts for approximately 70 percent of the local tax base. City officials estimate that when the new reactors begin operation, tax revenue will double.