Ambient office = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 92 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 97 nanosieverts per hour

Pineapple from Central Market = 85 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 89 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 78 nanosieverts per hour

Part 1 of 2 Parts
     The U.S. nuclear industry made some major advancements in 2021 and that winning streak is expected to continue in 2022 with the implementation of the new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The Biden administration is investing billions of dollars in the current U.S. fleet of commercial nuclear power reactors and on new reactor designs that could be operational within the next ten years. Both the old and new nuclear technologies will play a critical tole in helping the U.S. achieve a net-zero energy economy by 2050. They are expected to hit some major milestones in 2022.
Here are the five most important U.S. nuclear power stories to watch in 2022.
1. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes over sixty-two billion dollars for the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) to help move the U.S. to a clean energy economy and that includes increased reliance on the biggest single source of clean power in the U.S. – nuclear energy.

Civil Nuclear Credits
     The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes six billion dollars to start a Civil Nuclear Credit program. In this program, owners or operators of commercial nuclear power reactors can apply for certification and competitively bid on credits to help support their continued operation and avoid premature retirements due to financial hardship. DoE plans to ask for public feedback to help establish the new program. It could start awarding its first credits to the U.S. nuclear power plants as early as this fall.

Clean Hydrogen Production
     The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law also allocates eight billion dollars to demonstrate regional clean hydrogen hubs. At least one hub will be dedicated to the production of hydrogen with nuclear energy. Initial selections could be awarded before the end of the year. DoE currently supports four clean hydrogen demonstration projects located at commercial nuclear power plants across the country. These four hubs are also part of the DoE’s Hydrogen Shot goal to reduce the cost of hydrogen to one dollar per one kilogram in one decade.

Advanced Reactors
     Finally, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes about two and a half billion dollars to support the demonstration of two advanced U.S. reactors by 2028. X-energy is planning to site its four-unit Xe-100 power plant at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation near Richland, Washington. TerraPower will capitalize on the existing infrastructure and workforce at a retiring coal facility in order to construct its Natrium reactor in Kemmerer, Wyoming. Both projects will be carried out under the supervision of the recently established Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations at the DoE as they continue to work on accelerated timelines.

2. Deploying New Reactors

Large Scale Reactors
     The U.S. could soon add a new commercial reactor to the U.S. electricity grid. Unit 3 at Plant Vogtle is more than ninety complete in Waynesboro, Georgia and is scheduled to come online later this November. Georgia is building two AP-1000 reactors at Plant Vogtle. These will be the first new reactors to be built in the U.S. in more than thirty years. The DoE Loan Programs Office provided more than twelve billion dollars in loan guarantees to help complete the expansion project which will be the U.S.’s largest clean energy power plant. Unit 4 is scheduled to be online by 2023.

Please read Part 2 next

Ambient office = 89 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 105 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 104 nanosieverts per hour

English cucumber from Central Market = 77 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 92 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 85 nanosieverts per hour

Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
      The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis is based in Lakewood, Ohio. It is not an official party in the proceedings regarding the Vogtle project. Its new report was not prepared for any organization that is directly participating in the Vogtle project.
     GP’s customers have already had to pay more than three and a half billion dollars for the two new nuclear power reactors being constructed at Vogtle through a rider on their electric bills which is intended to cover financing charges according to the Institute’s report.
     Jeff Wilson is a GP spokesperson. He said, “Our new Vogtle units will be clean energy sources and produce zero air pollution. That’s why we remain fully committed to getting the job done, and getting it done right, with safety and quality our top priority.” He minimized the impact of the Vogtle construction on customers’ rates.
     The two new nuclear power reactors being constructed at the Vogtle plant were scheduled to be connected to the grid in 2016 and 2017. GP now estimates that commercial operation of the new reactors will not begin until 2022 and 2023 according to the Institute’s report. They will be the first new commercial nuclear power units in the U.S. in the last three decades.

    The Institute’s report quoted a GPSC hearing last December at which Don Grace, an independent monitor of the project told the GPSC that GP had on more than one occasion presented low forecasts as a way to “try and continue to justify the project.” He added that developing the Vogtle was like trying to drive “uphill in the snow. And the wheels are turning. Money is being spent and you’re trying to get to the goal of getting to the top of the hill. But in some cases you’re making slow progress, but not at the rate you expected. And in some cases, you’re actually slipping backwards somewhat.”

          Wilson disagreed with Grace. He said, “Throughout the open and transparent construction monitoring public process with the Georgia Public Service Commission, we have always provided the latest, most up-to-date information regarding our projected costs and estimated time for when the new nuclear units are expected to go into operation.”

     The problems at Vogtle are coming at a time when the nuclear industry and the federal government are exploring a new generation of smaller nuclear power plants that are being promoted as safer, more flexible and less expensive, as well as part of a response to the climate crisis.
     Nuclear power generates electricity without the direct combustion of fossil fuels which release greenhouse gases. Vogtle is part of Southern Company’s plans to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. The company has pledged to transition to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
     When the Plant Vogtle’s two new nuclear power plants are eventually connected to the grid, they will reduce the company’s carbon dioxide emissions, Schlissel acknowledged. He added, “But there are cheaper ways to get electricity in place of fossil fuels, such as renewables and battery storage.”

Ambient office = 81 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 93 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 91 nanosieverts per hour

Blueberry from Central Market = 78 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 105 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 85 nanosieverts per hour

Part 1 of 2 Parts
     I have posted before about the new nuclear build at the Vogtle power plant in the state of Georgia. I have not posted recently because construction has been proceeding and major problems have not been reported. However, now I thought it would be a good idea to post an update on how that construction is going. The two new nuclear power reactors being constructed at Vogtle are six years behind schedule and at least sixteen billion dollars over their original budget.
     The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing a sustainable energy economy. They have just published a new report in which they concluded that increasing cost overruns and construction delays at Georgia Power Company’s Vogtle nuclear project threaten to cost the electricity consumers in Georgia billions of dollars for decades to come. In the report, the Institute builds a case that stockholders of the company should take the lead on construction and carry much of the cost instead of the state’s rate payers.
     The original estimated cost of the Vogtle project was fourteen billion dollars. The current estimation of the price tag for the two new reactors at the Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle property has rising to over thirty billion dollars. Both rectors will be over six years late in coming online. The Institute researched public records to make their argument including testimony at a Georgia Public Service Commission (GPSC) hearing last December. The Vogtle plant already has two operating nuclear power reactors. These existing reactors began producing electricity in the 1980s.
     Staff and consultants for the GPSC have blamed the high costs and constructions delays for the Vogtle project on Georgia Power (GP). GP is the lead partner in the new construction at the Vogtle plant and they will operate the new reactors when they are completed. GP is a subsidiary of the Southern Company.
      GP was warned in 2008 that the unproven reactor design they are using at the Vogtle plant would probably cause cost overruns and construction delays according to David Schlissel. He is the Institute’s Director of Resource Planning and Analysis and the lead author on the new report. He is a lawyer who has been a frequent expert witness in legal proceedings. He said that GP “challenged and the commission disregarded these warnings.”
    Tom Krause is a spokesperson for the GPSC. He said that he could not comment directly on the Institute’s new report or on the GPSC’s ongoing quasi-judicial proceedings that are designed to monitor the construction at Vogtle plant. The Atlanta Journal Constitution has described the new Vogtle construction as the largest energy project in Georgia history. The GPSC regulates GP and has a major say in Georgia energy policy.
     Krause said that future hearings held when the project is farther along will be held to assist the GPSC determine which of the Vogtle project costs should be allocated to ratepayers as opposed to shareholders. He said, “That will be a very significant docket before the GPSC.”
      David Schlissel of the Institute said, “I imagine it will be a knock-down, drag-out fight. I have heard a fair amount of the documentation, and just reading what the GPSC staff has been saying, clearly this project has been mismanaged.”
Please read Part 2 next

Ambient office = 83 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 114 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 114 nanosieverts per hour

Avocado from Central Market = 96 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 99 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 91 nanosieverts per hour