Late last night a friend of mine in Washington, DC wrote to tell me that Michele Boyd at Physicians for Social Responsibility in DC was alerting folks that the Senate Appropriations Committee will take action today on its Energy and Water Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2011.

Currently, what’s proposed, which we just learned late yesterday, is:

$10 billion in new nuclear loan guarantees (that’d be enough to finance another new reactor, at taxpayer financial risk)

$7 billion in fossil fuel loan guarantees

Up to $3.8 billion in renewables and efficiency loan guarantees.

This notice and a subsequent conversation early this morning concerned me greatly, so I wrote to both Senator Leahy and Senator Sanders.  

This winter, Fairewinds Associates’ chief engineer Arnie Gundersen uncovered a significant safety flaw in the new generation of nuclear plants, the AP1000.  The NRC Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) took his report so seriously that it asked Arnie to testify in late June for more than an hour.  These are the reactors that the Senate is considering for loan guarantees.

The entire letter I sent to Vermont’s Senators is posted after the fold.

In response to my letter and emails, I received the following responses from our Senators.

From Senator Leahy’s staff this morning:

We are hearing rumors this issue may come up in the Appropriation Committee this afternoon.  If it does it will  be an amendment offered in Committee and not be a vote in the full Senate.

If an amendment is offered we believe it would be aimed at including additional funds to the loan guarantee program, which Senator Leahy will vote against.

More below the fold.

While today’s vote is limited to the appropriations committee and will not come to the full Senate floor, Senator Sanders’ staff notified me that the appropriate staff will read the letter and also pass it on to the Senator.

As I said in my letter to the Senators:

Burdening U.S. taxpayers with tens of billions dollars of additional liability for new reactors is not just unwise it is cavalier, given the industry’s inability to assure the safety of its technology, resolve interim or long-term radioactive waste storage issues, reduce the soaring capital costs of its proposed new reactors, and the industry’s history of cost overruns and default.  Moreover, Vermont’s taxpayers should not have to bear this outrageous tax burden for nuclear plants that have not been adequately reviewed and for which there is neither need nor adequate waste storage or terrorist protections.  The huge cost per kilowatt-hour for new nuclear power plants simply does not compute in today’s economy.

You may find Arnie Gundersen’s power point presentation here:  

http://www.fairewinds.com/AP10…

Here are the links to the whole report and the summary with technical drawings:

http://www.fairewinds.com/cont…

http://www.fairewinds.com/AP10…

Matt Wald of the New York Times featured Arnie’s testimony to the ACRS in the NY Time Green Energy Blog.  

Is a New Reactor Rust-Prone?  [The Westinghouse AP1000 Reactor]

By MATTHEW L. WALD, NYTIMES, 6/29/10

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com…

April 21, 2010, 3:27 PM

Critics Challenge Safety of New Reactor Design

By MATTHEW L. WALD

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com…

“…during the past year alone, Arnie and Fairewinds Associates have provided expert testimony to the NRC, State Public Service Commissions, and other agencies regarding the Fermi 3, Susquehanna, North Anna, Bellefonte, Beaver Valley, Levy County, Turkey Point 6 & 7, and Callaway nuclear power plants.  As a technical expert, Arnie also gave a key presentation at the Pennsylvania Statehouse delineating the actual concentration of radioactive isotopes released in Pennsylvania by the Three Mile Island nuclear accident.”  

“In addition to the research and report by Fairewinds Associates to the Florida Public Service Commission, former NRC Commissioner, Vermont resident, and Vermont Law School Adjunct Professor Peter Bradford, and Vermont Law School Adjunct Professor Dr. Mark Cooper have also given formal testimony regarding the extensive cost overruns on the new AP1000 units being proposed by FPL and Progress Energy.”

Leahy Sanders Nuclear Loan Guarantees 7-22-2010R