Nuclear Energy

certification also runs out in 2012, and major modifications are likely to be needed for it to
be re-certified. cccvii
• 14 of the 26 reactors whose construction applications are pending before the NRC are of
Westinghouse’s AP-1000 design. However, in October 2009 itself, the NRC raised serious
concerns about the AP-1000 reactor design. The NRC stated that Westinghouse has failed to
demonstrate whether the AP1000 nuclear reactor structure can withstand hurricanes,
earthquakes, tornadoes and other external impacts. It also stated that the unsuccessful
efforts to secure information had gone on for a year. cccviii Additional concerns about the AP-
1000 design were voiced in a report released in April 2010 which was commissioned by the
AP1000 Oversight Group, which involves more than a dozen nuclear watchdog
organizations. The report prepared by Arnold Gundersen, a nuclear engineer and a former
senior executive in the nuclear power industry, stated that the design was particularly
vulnerable to through-wall corrosion.cccix These concerns put in doubt the future of all
these projects. And they constitute more than half the reactors proposed!
• One of these AP-1000 projects whose future has now become uncertain is the Vogtle nuclear
plant in Georgia which won a loan guarantee from the Obama administration just a few
months ago.
• The DOE has shortlisted three more projects for a second loan guarantee: South Carolina
Electric and Gas for 2 AP-1000s at the Summer nuclear power plant in South Carolina;
EDF-Constellation Energy’s proposal to build a EPR reactor at its Calvert Cliffs site in
Maryland; NRG Energy for 2 ABWRs at the South Texas Project nuclear plant in Texas. cccx
However, all three projects have become crisis-ridden:
• South Carolina Electric and Gas’ proposal is for AP-1000 reactors, so
obviously its future is in doubt.
• In October 2010, Constellation Energy announced that it was withdrawing from
its joint venture with the French EDF to build the Calvert Cliffs-3 reactor in Maryland;
it blamed the US government for insufficient subsidies for the decision. cccxi The project
is now virtually dead, with their being only an outside chance that EDF would go
ahead with it. cccxii
• Cost estimates for building two additional ABWR’s at the South Texas nuclear
plant have ballooned to $18.2 billion from a preliminary estimate of $5.4 billion, even
before the first stone for the project has been laid! cccxiii There is no knowing what the
final costs are going to be! Indications are that this may have stalled the project. cccxiv
Clearly, the nuclear renaissance in the United States is stuck in quicksand.
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