The mysterious death of a done nuclear deal

[kristopher]

This glimpse into the world of Nuclear Power Plant Development is a textbook illustration of what an industry should not be like. When this technology is managed for safety; is it done with the same priorities?

The mysterious death of a done nuclear deal
By Greg Harman

If CPS Energy, San Antonio’s City-owned utility, took a solitary human form, it would be a headless corpse bouncing gently under a white hospital sheet on its way to the morgue. While the events surrounding the demise of this heavyset, middle-aged entity have played out almost daily in frontpage headlines for months now, a handful of residents have been complaining about a suspicious stench for years, warning that the planned expansion of the South Texas Project nuclear plant was a doomed venture promoted with suspect numbers.

Post-mortem examinations, autopsia cadaverum, require the probing of suspicious wounds, chemical analysis, and excavation of foreign objects. The deconstruction of institutional failures isn’t typically as grisly. Bullets and poison pills take the form of leaked documents, alarming quotes dished to the media pool, and — if one is to accept at face value the recent investigation into CPS’s failure to disclose a dramatic price increase in the estimated cost of two new nuclear reactors — a string of “non-malicious” communication faux pas. Perhaps never before has non-maliciousness done so much damage.

When news broke in October, just two days ahead of a key Council vote, that CPS staff had concealed a $4-billion cost increase in the proposed South Texas Project expansion, San Antonio Mayor and CPS board member Julián Castro reacted swiftly and dramatically; he canceled the scheduled Council vote, where Council members were expected to approve another $400-million investment in the project. To general approval, Castro threw CPS GM Steve Bartley overboard, forced the board chair down on her blade, and negotiated the resignation of Board Secretary and Veep of Nuclear Development Bob Temple.

CPS in turn leveled an unprecedented $32-billion lawsuit against its nuclear partners, NRG Energy and NINA, alleging the City-owned utility was the victim of “a campaign of media misinformation, public threats, and disclosure of confidential Project information.”

In addition to being 50-50 partners in the planned addition of ...

http://www.sacurrent.com/news/story.asp?id=70826

[kristopher]

1. Kick for the evening set. It is worth reading. nt