August 1, 2006

The Heartland Institute - Texas Will Host First New U.S. Nuclear Plants Since 1970s - by James M. Taylor

The Heartland Institute - Texas Will Host First New U.S. Nuclear Plants Since 1970s - by James M. Taylor:

This is good news indeed...for Texas. Nuclear power is the realistic alternative among the many choices for reliable base load power. Meanwhile, Vermont 'whistles in the wind' rather than pay attention to the important decisions it faces as the existing nuke plant (Vermont Yankee) is up for relicensing within the the next decade. Also up for renewal is the contract with Hydro Quebec for water generated electricity. Expect to pay much more for this source in the future.

We'd better get our act together and the candidates for leadership in the state should be questioned on their energy policies. The good news is we have a reasonable mix of sources.

We can gain some benefit from conservation, but real demand growth has to be met an dthat means more electricity.

Meanwhile, we have this ongoing onerous debate about the upgrade of VELCO transmission lines. It's a crying shame that the cost of this project has been so poorly estimated. It's not reasonable to think that the original estimate should have doubled in 2-3 years. Certainly, the requirements added by the Public Service Board have been the source of some of the increase, but not all of it.


"'Quite simply, nuclear power offers the only large-scale, feasible alternative to fossil fuels,' said Sterling Burnett, senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis. 'Wind and solar power are intermittent, and solar power in particular is prohibitively expensive. It is not surprising that to the extent people buy into global warming theory, nuclear power is becoming the power source of choice.'"

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