Nuclear ‘Renaissance’ Takes Root In Idaho

ENVIRONMENT 

By Tom Banse

Boise, ID  January 7, 2008 9:25 a.m.

The Northwest is not immune to the renewed interest in nuclear power.  Two different companies have come forward with plans for commercial nuclear reactors to serve the region.

Both propose to put a nuke plant in rural southwest Idaho.  Why Idaho?  Correspondent Tom Banse went looking for answers.

Project site manager Jay Clark says he has the “perfect” spot for a nuclear plant.  Today, it’s just a hayfield on an arid plateau about an hour south of Boise.

BRUNEAU, Idaho -- A red stake in a hayfield marks the possible future location of a commercial nuclear plant backed by Alternate Energy Holdings Inc.

Jay Clark: “Even though it’s a cloudy nasty day, we can see the Owyhee Mountains which are a good 20 to 30 miles away.  And there’s not a single house you can see from this spot, not a single residence.  That’s one of many factors.”

Other factors include low earthquake risk, no volcanoes, and access to cooling water from the Snake River.

Clark works for a start-up company called Alternate Energy Holdings.  A second nuclear plant proposal comes from a Midwestern utility controlled by billionaire investor Warren Buffet. It’s looking at similar farmland in Payette County near the Idaho-Oregon border.

Both companies hope to draw on nuclear expertise at the Idaho National Lab.  Jay Clark can even envision shipping spent fuel to the lab for recycling.

Jay Clark: “That’s really the future.  When it’s reprocessed, then when you’re done with it there’s no high-grade nuclear waste.”

The closest town to Jay Clark’s project is Bruneau, a hamlet of fewer than 150 souls.  It has a liquor store, a hair salon, and a cafe.

Bird hunters Bill Platts and Ralph Pehrson are getting warm in the cafe.  They have decidedly mixed feelings about a nuke plant coming in.

Bill Platts: “I’d be real concerned about the effects it would have on the waterfowl and the fisheries on the Snake River.”

Ralph Pehrson: “We’ve got to get some power from somewhere and what’s our choices?  There’s no opportunity for hydropower left in the state.  That’s out, and we’ve already gone to battle on the coal-fired plant.”

Beyond its rural character, Idaho has a regulatory environment that companies like.  The state is leaving it to the local counties to decide whether they want a nuclear plant.

Ken Miller: “It’s asking an awful lot – particularly in rural counties which we’re talking about here -- for them to be able to handle an application like this.”

The nuclear watchdog group Snake River Alliance wishes there was greater scrutiny from a statewide perspective, as would be the case in Oregon or Washington State.

Ken Miller is the group’s energy specialist.  He expects the Idaho nuke plants to export a lot of their power to neighboring states.

Ken Miller: “Many here in Idaho do not want us to become an energy colony of sorts for the rest of the Western United States while we here in Idaho will be left with whatever waste and other environmental consequences that may come from those plants.”

In Idaho political circles, the interest from nuclear developers is warmly welcomed. In particular, Idaho’s U.S. Senators and Republican Governor Butch Otter are big supporters.

Butch Otter: “In my eyes, I think it’s great.  And I think in the future for anybody it’s got to be part of our whole energy orchard.”

Governor Otter talks about being mindful of carbon footprints.  He notes that nuclear – as well as wind and geothermal – don’t produce global warming emissions.

Even with strong political support, it takes a long time to license and build a nuclear plant.  The earliest you could possibly receive electricity from a southwestern Idaho nuke plant would be 2015. 

Online:

Alternate Energy Holdings Inc (Bruneau nuclear plant)

MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company (Payette nuclear plant) 

Share this article: del.icio.us digg newsvine

© 2008 KUOW