Former TVA Chairman calls for end to agency's nuclear building program

[kristopher]

Former TVA Chairman S. David Freeman calls for end to agency's nuclear building program
Pam Sohn Friday, April 27th, 2012

TVA, under fire for nuclear construction overruns, is on a road to having its first ever net loss year, its board was told Thursday.

"TVA expects to end fiscal year 2012 with revenues between $500 million and $600 million below plan," Chief Financial Officer John Thomas said, blaming unusually mild weather and a slowly recovering economy for sluggish power sales.

In addition, the board of the Tennessee Valley Authority and the utility's president and CEO were put on the defensive by public criticism of its $2 billion cost overrun on the Watts Bar Unit 2 reactor and its "nuclear addicted" management.

S. David Freeman, a former TVA board chairman, implored the agency "to just stop" its nuclear building program because it is too costly...

http://timesfreepress.com/news/2012/apr/27/former-chairman-s-david-freeman-blasts-tva/

Background:

TVA: Watts Bar 2 Cost Overruns Soar by $2B; Operation Delayed to 2015
POWERnews April 12, 2012

Completion of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) second Watts Bar reactor will cost nearly double the $2.49 billion price estimated in 2007 and take much longer than the projected 60-month completion timeframe, a construction review undertaken by the federally owned corporation has revealed. TVA management pointed to mismanagement and faulty execution as reasons for the discrepancy...

http://www.powermag.com/POWERnews/TVA-Watts-Bar-2-Cost-Overruns-Soar-by-$2B-Operation-Delayed-to-2015_4532.html

[PamW]

1. All you have to do...

Quoting from the above:

TVA management pointed to mismanagement and faulty execution as reasons for the discrepancy...

The solution is clear. Since the reasons for the problem are mismanagement and faulty execution; the solution is readily available.

All one has to do is to not mismanage and to not execute in a faulty manner. It's not the Laws of Physics or some other reason that one can't do anything about. The problem is due to humans that didn't do their job properly. We just have to have people do their job properly.

If a pilot of an airliner doesn't do his job properly, and the plane crashes due to "pilot error", do we say "Can't have airline travel, somebody didn't do their job right. Game over. End of story".

Of course not. We take steps to ensure that pilots in the future don't make the same mistakes, and we still fly.

TVA has been running with profits for decades. As the quoted text above states, this will be its first yearly loss. All the decades that TVA has been running successfully and making profits have entailed operating a half dozen nuclear reactors. Contrary to the claims of the anti-nukes; those have evidently been profitable.

PamW

[kristopher]

2. "just stop"

"S. David Freeman, a former TVA board chairman, implored the agency "to just stop" its nuclear building program because it is too costly...

The TVA is one of the few remaining havens for nuclear only because they have nearly unlimited access to cheap money and there is no accountability.

That's why the several dozens of proposed and hyped projects around the country have shrank to a trickle of less than 5, in most places they can no longer just shove the risk onto the ratepayers.

[bananas]

3. LOL - " TVA management pointed to mismanagement ..."

You can't make this stuff up!
"We made bad decisions because we're bad decision makers"
Choosing nuclear was one of their bad management decisions.
Appoint some good managers and they will abandon nuclear.
Because nuclear sucks.

[kristopher]

4. "You can't make this stuff up!"

Truer words were never written or spoken; the logic involved in this process is unbelievable.

[PamW]

5. Unbelievable

I've always found your logic unbelievable.

PamW

[kristopher]

6. Poor Gregory...