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10.02.2012 15:07US Approves First New Nuclear Plant after 30-Year Hiatus
The approval was cold comfort for nuclear industry officials who have touted a "renaissance" that has failed to materialize, undercut by high costs and the cheapest natural gas prices in about a decade
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U.S. regulators on Thursday approved plans to build the first new nuclear power plant in more than 30 years, despite objections of the panel's chairman who cited safety concerns stemming from Japan's 2011 Fukushima disaster, reuters reported.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted 4-1 to allow Atlanta-based Southern Co to build and operate two new nuclear power reactors at its existing Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia. The units will cost Southern and partners about USD14 billion and enter service as soon as 2016 and 2017.
The approval was cold comfort for nuclear industry officials who have touted a "renaissance" that has failed to materialize, undercut by high costs and the cheapest natural gas prices in about a decade.
Further clouding future prospects, NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko cast an extraordinary dissenting vote, citing the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in March 2011 that spurred the NRC to review whether existing and new U.S. reactors could withstand natural disasters like earthquakes and floods.
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