Groups file suit to block Georgia nuclear plant

[Commentary: The same groups that file these lawsuits which drive up costs, create delays, and change the scope of work will then complain about the higher costs of nuclear power and the extended time it takes to build a new plant in the United States. It is an ongoing campaign of duplicity that needs exposing.]

WASHINGTON — Environmental and watchdog groups, including Knoxville-based Southern Alliance for Clean Energy have filed suit to block construction of two nuclear reactors in eastern Georgia that would be the nation's first built-from-scratch nuclear power plant in a generation.

The groups say the plant should be blocked until federal regulators approve safety changes prompted by last year's nuclear disaster in Japan.

Twelve groups, including the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, filed suit Thursday in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted 4-1 last week to issue a permit to Atlanta-based Southern Co. to build and operate two new reactors at its Plant Vogtle site south of Augusta. The NRC last approved construction of a nuclear plant in 1978.

"We have filed suit with the NRC and the federal Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit. The NRC will rule first and we are not optimistic that the NRC will rule in our favor because we've raised these issues before," said Stephen Smith, SACE executive director.

Smith said the groups strongly feel that the NRC consider all the facts surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster last year and apply those lessons to U.S. nuclear reactor construction.

"If we are going to be successful, we think that will be with the D.C. court," Smith said.

The NRC voted 4-1 last week in favor of the Southern Co. reactors, with NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko casting the lone vote against granting the license. Jaczko said he wanted binding assurances that the new reactors would be modified to meet recommendations made by the agency's task force on the disaster at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant last year.

Southern Co.'s Georgia Power subsidiary owns 45.7 percent of the $14 billion project and already has spent $4 billion preparing the site and doing preliminary construction 26 miles southeast of Augusta.

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