Energy Northwest’s Nuke Agenda Bewildering

The news that Energy Northwest, the Washington consortium of 25 publicly owned utilities, wants to build new nukes in the state is just remarkable. Bewildering, actually.

You may recall this outfit by its old name, the Washington Public Power Supply System, WPPSS. Twenty five years ago, after its effort to build five plants led to the biggest muni bond default in history, the agency was widely derided as WHOOPS!. Now it has a new name.

But it appears it hasn’t completely shaken the nuclear bug. It wants each of its utility-members to pony up $25,000 to further study a plan to build small (40 megawatt) nuclear plants at the site of its Columbia Generating Station. The new nukes could be under construction as early as 2014, according to Energy Northwest.

It’s important to remember a couple of things as the region looks at its energy future. First, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, the official regional power planner, thinks wind, solar, biomass, hydro and good old energy efficiency all should be higher priorities than new nuclear power. Second, the Coalition’s Power of Efficiency report shows that we have enough untapped energy efficiency to power the region through 2020 without new electricity generation. New, cost-effective renewables will allow us to meet the goal of electrifying the transportation system and wean the region off dirty coal.

So, why are we doing to roll the dice on nuclear power?

Tags: energy efficiency, energy northwest, nuclear power