How safe is safe enough with nuclear power?

[kristopher]

How safe is safe enough with nuclear power?
By Joan King
POSTED: March 25, 2012 12:30 a.m.

...Despite everything I've said about being too old for long day trips, that Sunday found me on a bus with a bunch of anti-nuclear activists - a term I dislike - headed toward a little church in Waynesboro.

There, in the shadow of Plant Vogtle's cooling towers, the ladies of the Fairfield Missionary Baptist Church graciously served lunch - baked chicken, turnip greens, and cornbread - to those of us who gathered for a Day of Remembrance. Some of the visitors had come from as far away as Japan.

In a time when nuclear power is in decline, Georgia Power Co. is trying to engineer a "nuclear Renaissance" by building two new reactors at its Plant Vogtle site. The licensing process has yet to be completed, and there is a good chance the reactors may never produce a single kilowatt of electricity. But Georgia Power already has begun construction and has raised its rates to cover the cost.

...

Anthropology is the study of man, his culture and his institutions. One of the first things the anthropology student learns is that institutions, while not human, have much in common with humans. Institutions grow and evolve. The people who run them die and are replaced, but institutions are basically immortal. An institution, like a human being, has a will to live. It will fight for its life, but unlike a human being, it has no conscience....

http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/21/article/65147/

[PamW]

1. FABRICATION; as per usual

FABRICATION ALERT -- FABRICATION ALERT -- FABRICATION ALERT

The above post claims, "The licensing process has yet to be completed," when it was written in March 2012.

The NRC completed the licensing process and issued a COL - combined Construction / Operating Licenses for Vogtle Units 3 and 4 in February:

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2012/12-013.pdf

http://www.southerncompany.com/nuclearenergy/presskit/docs/COL_press_release.pdf

As per the NRC press release; the NRC certified the Westinghouse AP1000 design which is what the Vogtle Units 3 and 4 are to be back in December 2011. The COL to Southern Company was issued in February 2012.

The COL issued by the NRC not only allows the operator to build the plants; but to operate the plants.

This means that when the plants are complete, the owner can operate them. They won't have to wait for a decision by the NRC which can be challenged in Court. If there are any Court challenges, they have to be made now. If those challenges fail, and the Court upholds NRC, then when the plants are complete, there will be nothing that the anti-nukes can do about it. They will have had their day in Court, and LOST.

PamW

[kristopher]

2. Poor Pam, just ain't got a clue...

Citing a draconian right wing law that disenfranchises the people, the Congress and the Courts is nothing less than I'd expect from you...

As to the content of the article see also:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/112711173

[PamW]

3. POOR READING COMPREHENSION, as per usual

POOR READING COMPREHENSION ALERT -- POOR READING COMPREHENSION ALERT

Kris writes:
Citing a draconian right wing law that disenfranchises the people, the Congress and the Courts is nothing less than I'd expect from you...

Another demonstration of poor reading comprehension.

Kris - try READING what I wrote in the post that you responded to, namely:

This means that when the plants are complete, the owner can operate them. They won't have to wait for a decision by the NRC which can be challenged in Court. If there are any Court challenges, they have to be made now.

Can you NOT READ where I said, If there are any Court challenges, they have to be made now.

Evidently you can't parse this; it means the Court challenges have to be made now.

NOBODY is getting "disenfranchised" as your poor comprehension "thinks". It just means that they have to file now.

The people that are opposed are not going to be disenfranchised. They will get their day in Court, but they have to file NOW, before the plant is built. They will get their hearing!!! How are they getting "disenfranchised"????

The will be able to get their hearing!!!! That's NOT being disenfranchised!!!

NO - the only difference is that they will get their hearing NOW when the plant is yet to be built and the owners don't have a ton of money spent and awaiting revenues from the plant to pay it back. It just means that the Court will decide BEFORE there is money pressure on the utility. This is how it should be.

Now - will you tell us how the opponents are being "disenfranchised" because they have to go to Court NOW???

Please explain how that is being "disenfranchised"!!!! Can you explain that????

I didn't think so.

PamW

[kristopher]

4. This is a draconian right wing law that disenfranchises the people, Congress and the Courts.

The granting of a license is no magic moment that ensure public safety forever thereafter, Pam.

If you don't see how placing a for-profit industry above the law is bad I don't know what to tell you. By immunizing them against public protests, Congressional inquiries and even legal intervention you are stripping away all of the mechanisms that are there explicitly to protect the public welfare. And the fact that this has been done on behalf of a secretive network of global conglomerates is unconscionable.

[kristopher]

6. The more I learn of your values

The more I appreciate my own.