Nuclear Plants AAEA Visits Duke Energy Nuclear Plants in NC & SC AAEA President Norris McDonald toured the McGuire nuclear power plant near Charlotte, NC and the Catawba nuclear power plant just across the South Carolina line on November 6, 2002. Rose B. Cummings and Rita Sipe provided excellent technical information about the facilities. McDonald also met with Steven P. Nesbit, MOX Fuel Manager and Todd Kaish of Duke Cogema Stone & Webster to discuss the proposed MOX fabrication facility at the Savannah River Site. McGuire | Each of McGuire's two generating units produces 1,100 megawatts (2,200,000 kilowatts) of electricity. | Catawba | Catawba's two generating units produce 2,258 megawatts of electricity. This represents emission free generated electricity for about 4.5 million homes. | These two green power sources of electricity are supplemented by the Cowans Ford hydroelectric generating station at the McGuire site, which generates 350,000 kilowatts (350 megawatts) of electricity. A prosperous community has grown around the McGuire facility in the past two decades. Million-dollar homeowners live just across Lake Norman from the plant. Upscale single-family homes, townhouses and multifamily residences are within a few miles of the facility. A large commercial mall and significant retail outlets are within 4 miles of the plant. Evidently, the local community had no fear of developing out to the plant area. And there really is no logical reason to fear this reliable source of green power. Callaway Nuclear Power Plant Is owned and operated by Ameren. AAEA President Norris McDonald toured the plant on June 29, 2002 with Ameren Managers John Blosser and Susan LaBombard. After an initial technical review, John provided a demonstration of the Simulation Room--an exact replica of the actual control room. They proceeded to a full two hour tour that included the generation facility, walk-by the internal entrance to the containment dome, the real control room and a walk around the spent fuel pool. We will not describe the formidable security observed for national security reasons. McDonald observed the water inlet equipment and the environmentally friendly, passive wastewater treatment ponds. Cattails, rabbits, geese and blackberries were in abundance in the area. The tour ended with a very close view of the 500 foot cooling tower. Water from the generating facility is sent to the cooling tower where it cools the water for the secondary loop and rains up with a natural airflow from openings at the bottom to release water vapor from the top. (Note: the cooling tower water is completely separate from the water used in the reactor). In addition to the nuclear power plant tour, McDonald also met with Paul A. Agathen, Senior Vice President. McDonald met with representatives of the company's union: International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (Locals 2, 1455 & 1439). His discussion with the union representatives (Leo Beishir, Franklin Conner, Gene Peterson, & Mike Datillo) was informative and enlightening. McDonald met with other Ameren employees and members of the East St. Louis, Illinois community. He had an enthusiastic discussion on minority participation in the nuclear industry with representatives of Ameren (Samuel Willis, Brian Montgomery, Otie Cowan, Michael West, Earl Mayhorn and Richard Mark--James Webb of the St. Louis Minority Business Council also participated in the luncheon discussion). McDonald gave a presentation on nuclear power and Yucca Mountain at Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church and agreed to provide continuing information assistance to Rev. Herman Watson. The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis and Project Hope were also represented at the meeting. Rev. Johnny Scott, President of the East St Louis Chapter of the NAACP was a principle organizer of the meeting.
McDonald met with Darryl Piggee, District Director and Counsel, for Congressman Lacy Clay (D-MO). We discussed the environmental injustice of the Stericycle medical waste incinerator being allowed to operate in St. Louis' African American community. AAEA agreed to work with Congressman Lacy Clay and other community groups to CLOSE this facility. Finally, AAEA thanks management at Ameren for allowing the tour. Tours of nuclear power plants have been suspended since September 11, 2001. Tours are important public education tools and we appreciate the special exception made for Norris to tour this facility. A special thank you to John Blosser for taking four hours out of a Saturday, when he could have been at home with his family, to conduct the tour. AAEA is very impressed with Ameren and their logistical wizard, Susan LaBombard. Mississippi Wants New Nuclear Power Plant The City of Port Gibson and surrounding Claiborne County in Mississippi voted unanimously in December 2004 to urge the Entergy Corporation, which already operates one reactor here, to build a second. Amelda J. Arnold, the city's mayor, city aldermen and County Board of Supervisors all support a new plant. This support is the exact opposite of that in New York, where town and county governments are trying to close two Entergy reactors at Indian Point in Westchester County. In three places, nuclear plant operators have applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for "early site approval," which would give them permission to build on particular sites anytime in the next 20 years. - Dominion Power, at North Anna, Va., about 40 miles northwest of Richmond, where it already operates two reactors.
- Exelon, the nation's largest nuclear operator, has submitted an application to build an additional reactor at its site in Clinton, Ill.
- Entergy: adjacent to the company's 20-year-old Grand Gulf reactor, near the banks of the Mississippi.
Exelon and Entergy are part of a multicompany consortium, called NuStart Energy, that is seeking to prepare a license application for a plant. Gary J. Taylor, is president and chief executive of Entergy Nuclear, with the company headquarters in Jackson, Mississippi John Rowe is the Exelon chief executive, with headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. Dominion Resources has established a partnership with General Electric for the same purpose, although no company has committed itself so far to ordering a reactor. The unemployment rate is in the double digits in Claibourne County and a new plant would bring jobs to the county. Currently, at least 100 local residents are among the company's more than 700 employees, and Entergy pays about $680,000 a year in city taxes, more than a third of the budget. Antinuclear groups and the local NAACP tried to enter the licensing hearings at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission so they could present the argument that building another reactor in Claiborne County, which is about 85 percent African-American, was an example of "environmental racism," putting undesirable facilities in poor, minority towns. But the mayor, the county supervisor and the Entergy vice president at Grand Gulf (George A. Williams), all African-American, rejected that idea. The NRC also rejected the request.
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