Anti-Nuke groups win standing in Comanche Peak expansion case

Aug 21, 2009
Elizabeth Souder/Reporter

Several anti-nuclear groups and Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, have won a seat at the table when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission decides whether to grant Energy Future Holdings license to expand a North Texas nuclear power plant.

The decision means the NRC must hold a contested hearing after staff has finished reviewing the company's application for a license to build and operate two new reactors.

The review is expected to take until 2012, and the contested hearing could delay a final decision on expansion of the Comanche Peak plant in Glen Rose by a few months, according to NRC spokesman Scott Burnell.

Company spokeswoman Ashley Monts said Luminant, the power plant operating unit if EFH, had anticipated a contested hearing, so the board's decision doesn't change Luminant's anticipated schedule.

"I'm very pleased," said Rep. Burnam, who is also director of the Dallas Peace Center. "The only reason we're doing it this way is so that people can make a lot of money," he said, of building nuclear power plants rather than other types of plants.

Nuclear plants can be expensive to build, but relatively cheap to operate.

To become an "intervenor" in a case, a group or individual must point out potential problems with the license application, and the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, which reviewed the complaints, must agree the arguments are worth considering.

The groups -- Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Coalition, Public Citizen, True Cost of Nukes -- and Burnam made 19 contentions, and the licensing board agreed that two of the complaints should be addressed.

Luminant said in a statement that company officials are pleased that most of the contentions were dismissed.

The two contentions that the board agreed should be heard are:

That Luminant failed to consider what might happen to the new reactors if there were a severe accident at one of the existing reactors,

And, that the company failed to explore alternatives to nuclear power, including "combinations of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, with technological advances in storage methods and supplemental use of natural gas, to create baseload power," according to the board's decision.

In its statement, Luminant said the reactors will be safe


Here's a link to the board's decision..
http://energyandenvironmentblog.dallasnews.com/ComanchePeakASLB.pdf

http://energyandenvironmentblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/08/anti-nuke-groups-win-standing.html