September 26, 2017
Plant Vogtle construction site in 2016. Johnny Edwards,
jedwards@ajc.com
Last week, a small but influential online magazine that follows energy and environmental
issues noted a slight shift in the Washington pecking order.
U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., has been placed in
charge of the survival of nuclear energy in the United States, E&E Daily reported. Isakson inherits the informal position
from his Senate colleagues in South Carolina, where utilities decided to
abandon the construction of two nuclear reactors.
The cancellation leaves just two new nuclear units being
built in the United States — both a part of the Plant Vogtle expansion in east
Georgia.
“We’re kind of the last of the Indians here, with South
Carolina dropping out,” Isakson said via telephone this week. “We’re not only
the lead dog – we’re the only dog.”
If you follow Georgia politics, you’re probably aware of
the two election cycles currently in play. Leadership contests in Georgia
cities will resolve themselves in November or, as is likely in Atlanta mayor’s
race, with a December runoff.
Then there’s the 2018 race for governor and other state
elections. A first culling will come with the May primaries.
Sen. Johnny Isakson, R – Ga. Curtis
Compton/ccompton@ajc.com
But there’s a third campaign in between – the fight over
Georgia Power’s decision to continue the construction of two new nuclear
reactors. The Vogtle expansion was already more than three years behind
schedule and $3 billion over budget when its key contractor, Westinghouse
Electric, filed bankruptcy in March.
The campaign to save the Vogtle expansion — or kill it —
has two legs. The state Public Service Commission voted last week to begin a
review of Georgia Power’s plan to keep going that will culminate with an
up-or-down vote in February.
Georgia Power presents its case in November. Opponents
have their say in December.
Then there’s the fight in D.C. that Isakson now has
charge of, which is likely to play out in the final days of 2017.
Georgia Power and other sponsors of the Vogtle expansion
are eligible for an $800 million tax credit if the reactors are up and
operating by Jan. 1, 2021.
The tax credit is essential to making the expansion
economically viable. But hope of meeting that deadline has dried up. Georgia
Power says the new reactors will be operational by late 2022, at a cost of $28
billion — about double the original estimate.
Isakson said he’s likely to tack an extension for the
nuclear energy tax credit to “catch-all” legislation in late December, perhaps
coupled with tax breaks targeted for wind, solar or biomass interests.
“There are plenty of opportunities. There are also plenty
of folks who have an interest in tax credits in the Senate who will need help
getting theirs through,’ Isakson said. “I know who they are and where some of
them live.”
Isakson’s new role as a protector of nuclear power has an
element of karma. In the early 1980s, at the beginning of his political career
and when he first became the House minority leader in the state Capitol,
Isakson was a key supporter of legislation that allowed the first nuclear
reactors at Plant Vogtle to be built.
So it’s no surprise that, like Gov. Nathan Deal, Isakson
is giving full-throated support to Georgia Power’s decision to persevere. “To
let what’s been done go to the wayside would be a tremendous injustice for our
people,” Isakson said.
All five members of the PSC are Republican. Two members,
Chairman Stan Wise and Chuck Eaton, are up for re-election in November 2018.
But advocates for continuing construction of the two new
Vogtle reactors got some good news on Monday.
Over the last few months, utilities with aging nuclear
reactors in several states – Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey included — have
found themselves under increased economic pressure from cheap natural gas, and
have sought direct state subsidies.
In each case, environmentalists and consumer advocates have
voiced concern, but it has been the American Petroleum Institute, a trade
organization that also represents the fracking industry, that has largely
financed the opposition.
PSC Chairman Wise said he’s been told the API does not
plan to participate in the debate over Vogtle — which means that opponents of
the Vogtle expansion will have to look elsewhere for cash.
Another development has also emerged over the last few
months that could bode well for Vogtle supporters. We’ve seen Democrats attempt
to nationalize the Sixth District congressional contest in Georgia. Democrat
Stacey Abrams aims to do the same in next year’s gubernatorial contest.
Keeping up this country’s nuclear expertise is essential
to blocking the spread of nuclear weapons, argues Michael Shellenberger,
co-founder of Breakthrough Institute, a think tank that focuses on
environmental issues. He supports the expansion of nuclear power as an answer
to climate change, but has also begun to argue that U.S. influence abroad is at
stake, too.
“The United States has been really the leader and pioneer
of creating teams and human infrastructure – nuclear cops at the [International
Energy Agency] and elsewhere — to prevent any diversion of materials for weapons,”
Shellenberger said.
“Nuclear energy isn’t going anywhere,” he said. “The
Russians and the Chinese are going to dominate that market. So then it becomes
a question of how concerned are you that the Russians and Chinese will be as
effective as the United States has been in preventing the spread of weapons.”
At least one PSC member, Tim Echols, has echoed these
sentiments. And Isakson said the national security argument is giving him
additional traction in Washington.
Nuclear expertise, he said, is devolving on “Russia,
China and a lot of other people who aren’t our friends.
“All the nuclear component parts – all the stuff is built
in Japan and other places around the world. They’re not built in the United
States,” Isakson said.
And that, friends, is the unfinished tale of an American
nuclear renaissance that is close to going bust.
