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Cost could mar STP nuclear deal
Two troubling issues emerged from news that the cost estimate for the proposed expansion of nuclear generation at the South Texas Project has suddenly gone up by as much as $4 billion. That's a 30 percent increase, and CPS Energy won't have a fixed-price contract for the two new reactors until at least 2012.
Toshiba Corp., the main contractor for the expansion, may merely have thrown out the inflated cost as a negotiating tactic. That's what CPS Energy interim general manager Steve Bartley suggests it is.
Another explanation could be that Toshiba is weak in producing estimates, with the initial figures being too low or the current ones being too high.
CPS postpones vote on nuclear expansion
A vote on the plan to reduce San Antonio's share in the nuclear project will be postponed at least a week.
CPS Energy's board had been expected to vote Monday on a proposal pushed by Mayor Julián Castro to decrease its stake in the expansion of the nuclear South Texas Project to 20 percent to 25 percent, meaning it would have to sell about of half its current ownership.
But any public discussion and decision on nuclear by the utility's board has been postponed tentatively until Oct. 13.
“This decision is much too important to rush,” Castro said via e-mail. “By moving board consideration back a week, we will give the CPS board, the City Council and, most importantly, the public additional time to hear from CPS Energy on this critical issue.”
The delay comes a day after Castro halted a closed-door meeting between the City Council and CPS Energy to discuss nuclear because of a challenge from the San Antonio Express-News.
Nuclear forum highlights contrasting opinions
All four panelists at Wednesday's forum on nuclear energy agreed the decision to partner in or forgo the expansion of the nuclear South Texas Project will play a large role in shaping San Antonio's economic future.
That's where the agreement ended.
The San Antonio Clean Technology Forum brought in three national experts to join CPS Energy interim General Manager Steve Bartley.
The forum focused on the economics around the utility's plans to partner with NRG Energy to build two more nuclear reactors near Bay City.
The utility estimates the project will cost $13 billion and wants to take a 40 percent share. CPS already has spent $276 million on the planning and permitting, and the City Council is expected in October to vote on another $400 million to enable CPS to stay in the project.
CPS Energy shortsighted, not long, in nuclear power push
Earlier this year, the San Antonio City Council adopted a vision to make the Alamo City one of the greenest cities in America. The “Mission Verde” plan envisioned solar panels on every rooftop, high efficiency homes that helped lower electric bills, and good-paying local jobs created to make all this happen.
But CPS Energy has a different vision. While making some encouraging investments in clean energy, the utility’s primary energy strategy continues to focus on polluting, unsustainable energy sources. They’ve just built a new coal-fired power plant, and now they want to invest in two new expensive and dirty nuclear reactors that San Antonio doesn’t need.
CPS claims that building the new nuclear reactors — at an eye-popping price of $5.2 billion — won’t compromise San Antonio’s ability to also develop clean sources of energy. But that claim doesn’t hold water.
The Ranger San Antonio College - Town hall renews nuclear questions
Concerns center on water usage, cost and spent fuel disposal.
The future of San Antonio’s ever-growing power needs was addressed Aug. 26 in McAllister Fine Arts Center during KSTX’s Town Hall forum on energy.
While the topic of the forum was all things energy, most of the evening’s questions centered on CPS’ proposed $10 billion-$13 billion expansion of the South Texas Project nuclear power plant in Bay City, which intends to add two additional nuclear reactors, as well as conversation on use of alternative and renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.
Construction for the new reactors, dubbed STP 3 & 4, is slated to begin in 2012.
CPS’ use of renewable resources, including solar, wind and natural gas, equals over 11 percent of the city’s peak energy demand, according to the company’s Web site. The Web site also lists a goal to increase that percentage to 20 percent by 2020.
Nuclear reactors too expensive
CPS Energy announced its cost estimate for two more nuclear reactors at the South Texas Project near Bay City last week. The $13-billion price tag is the latest estimate in a sustained and systemic low-balling by utilities wishing to receive government subsidies.
CPS' partner, NRG Energy, recently pegged the cost of units 3 and 4 at $10 billion, a figure that has jumped nearly 50 percent from its original estimate of $5.4 billion.
Other analyses, however, have estimated the cost of two new reactors to be nearly 100 percent higher than the CPS estimate. Former Texas Office of Public Utility Counsel official Clarence Johnson recently estimated the cost of STP expansion to be $20 billion to $22 billion, while nuclear engineer and president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Dr. Arjun Makhijani estimated a cost of up to $17.5 billion in 2008.
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