Group forms to oppose nuclear reactor

Friday, Sept. 26, 2008

Several county residents met with Maryland activists Wednesday and agreed to form the Southern Maryland Citizens Alliance for Renewable Energy, or SoMd CARES, an organization dedicated to opposing the proposed third reactor for Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby.

At the Sept. 24 meeting at the Calvert Library Prince Frederick, residents discussed their reasons for being suspicious of the Evolutionary Pressurized Reactor, or EPR, that UniStar Nuclear, a consortium of energy companies, has applied to construct at the Lusby plant, owned by Constellation Energy. The project is overwhelmingly supported by local governments and business groups.

Paul Gunter of Beyond Nuclear, a Takoma Park-based anti-nuclear group, said ratepayers would feel the pain if the reactor had problems or cost overruns, which he believes is likely to occur because of soaring costs at an EPR being built in Finland.

"It is a measure that indentures ratepayers," Gunter said. "That's a real concern here. We [would be] subject to most-cost electricity plans. They will seek to bind us to buying it [above] the market rate."

Allison Fisher with Public Citizen, one of several nonprofit organizations opposing the expansion, said state and federal nuclear approval processes hamper public participation because they "are set up so you can't participate unless you have a legal background or a lot of expertise. It's very complicated."

Fisher said the anti-reactor groups had focused their arguments on possible detrimental effects to the economy, and attendees speculated on ways the current economic instability — and the political reactions to this problem — could get in the way of the reactor.

"One of the things that could throw huge havoc into the deal is that many legislators now are calling for reregulation," Fisher said.

Fisher also expressed hope that Constellation shareholders would nullify a deal for the company to sell itself to MidAmerican Energy Holdings, an Iowa-based energy company, because a French company, EDF, reputedly offered a higher price. If EDF, now partnering with Constellation on the third reactor, were to acquire the struggling American energy company, the reactor could not go forward because U.S. nuclear reactors must be majority American-owned, she said.

Fisher also accused the creation of UniStar of being a corporate maneuver to minimize risks in case the project goes south after construction begins.

"They're not putting up a cent of their own money," she said of Constellation. "… They're trying to move farther and farther away from the parent company. But if anything goes wrong they say, we're a limited liability company, you can't touch our parent company."

Therefore, if UniStar were to default on loans backed by federal loan guarantees that it is currently seeking, the taxpayers would suffer, she said: "If they do default, it would come out of taxpayer money, out of the general fund."

"If there's any left," said Dave O'Leary, a Sierra Club activist from Takoma Park. "You may have noticed there is some chaos in the economy right now."

"That's good news," said Bill Johnston of Huntingtown, because it might impede the reactor. Johnston has testified against the reactor at several public hearings.

"Um, I guess," Fisher said.