I’ve known for years that nuclear power is really expensive, and as a resident of Tennessee who gets my electricity from Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), I’m aware of and quite frustrated by their $22+ billion debt for past nuclear reactors, many of which were not even completed. I day dream about what TVA would look like if even half of this was instead invested in conservation, efficiency and renewable energy programs–I’m thinking cleaner air, cleaner & cooler water, lower bills. But, until last week, I had not seen a break down of the direct impact of constructing new nuclear reactors on electric rates for consumers. I have included a chart from the Florida Public Service Commission staff memo issued on July 2, 2008 listing the projected monthly bill increase for the next 9 years of the construction of two 1000 MW reactors by Progress Energy in Levy County, Florida. This is crazy! Progress Energy’s electric ratepayers in Florida would end up paying an additional $1640 in the next seven years before the plant is even online and producing electricity and then $789 in the next two years as the 2 plants come online. That’s more than $2400 per customer on average over nine years.

The total estimate for the two reactors is around $17 billion!! Imagine if we invested even half of this into energy efficiency and renewable energy instead of new nuclear energy. This cost is in addition to over $18 billion in loan guarantees for new nuclear power that Congress approved in late 2007, since Wall Street won’t invest in new nukes. Dollar for dollar energy efficiency and renewables give us much higher carbon emissions reductions much quicker than new nuclear power and in the long term the sun, the wind and not using energy are FREE! (see chart at the end of this post) meaning that rate payers’ bills will more likely stay the same or even drop versus projections like these. To see the clean energy future that we want, we must stop these new plants and shift these HUGE investments (or even half of these investments, saving the rest) to clean, renewable energies creating green jobs, cleaner air, cleaner water and no nuclear waste! Sign the Power Vote pledge for a future of no coal, no nukes and green jobs and get more involved in the fights against these expensive and dirty plants.