[env-trinity] Westlands' Nuke

[Byron Leydecker]

Westlands discusses nuclear plants

The Fresno Bee- 8/19/08

By Dennis Pollock 

 

Fresno Nuclear Energy Group LLC on Tuesday signed a letter of intent with
the Westlands Water District to discuss the possibility of building two
1,600-megawatt nuclear power plants on 500 acres in the district. 

 

John Hutson, the company's president, said the district would choose the
site. 

 

Hutson said that, under the proposal, a desalinization facility, powered by
the plants, would be built "to supply clean, reliable water to the farmers
on the west side." 

 

Ground water in the district is plagued by salts that include selenium and
boron. 

 

State law bans any new nuclear power plants until the federal government
approves a process for the permanent disposal of their spent fuel. A nuclear
plant also would have to clear several federal legal hurdles, most notably
from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

 

Hutson has said he might try to use a ballot initiative to overcome the
state ban on new nuclear plants. 

 

Sarah Woolf, a spokeswoman for Westlands, said district officials met once
with Hutson and others involved in the project about two weeks ago. 

 

"The agreement says, 'Let's at least sit down and talk about it,' " she
said, adding that one challenge would be obtaining enough water to cool the
energy plant. "We made it clear that we're water short. 

 

"Our interest is if we could create a desalinization plant, we could power
it with nuclear energy that would make it more cost effective."   California
has two active nuclear plants: Diablo Canyon, near San Luis Obispo, and San
Onofre, between San Diego and Los Angeles.  Woolf said it would be "at best"
10 years before anything could be built.

 

 

Byron Leydecker, JCT

Friends of Trinity River, Chair

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 

415 519 4810 cell

bwl3 at comcast.net

bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org

www.fotr.org 

 

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