Published: January 31st, 2013 at 4:59 pm ET
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Title: Georgia nuclear power plant could be Solyndra redux, report says
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Author: Mark Clayton
Date: January 30, 2013
Construction of the first newly licensed US nuclear power plant in decades could become a “Solyndra-like” debacle thanks to billions in federal loan guarantees whose terms appear too weak to protect taxpayers, according to one group’s analysis of internal documents released by the US Department of Energy.
The two-reactor $14 billion Vogtle plant being built in Georgia is seen as a test of the US nuclear industry’s planned “renaissance” [...]
But two Massachusetts-based energy-consulting firms, Earth Track and Synapse Energy Economics, say the $8.3 billion in federal loan guarantees backing the project were crafted with excessively favorable financial terms for the recipient companies, weak federal oversight, and possible political interference in the loan-guarantee process. [...]
See also: CEO of GE says nuclear power "really hard" to defend financially -- "At some point, really, economics rule"
Published: January 31st, 2013 at 4:59 pm ET
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So what else is new?
Other than the financing is for an NPP, it's just another corruption story. No one in law enforcement even bothers any more.
Sad.
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yes it is TIS…
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'Billions In Blood Money Enjoyed by War Criminals’ Families'
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-01-30/billions-blood-money-enjoyed-war-criminals%E2%80%99-families
Lots o' links.
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true dat TIS. Unfortunately, you can't argue with the author's conclusions, either…
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not everyone agrees that nuclear is "green energy" either.
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Green Energy Ha Once again that was the pro-nukers conning a gullible public heck everyday all those plants dump Tritium in the water and I don't think that steam puffin' out of the towers is lily white either, granted it may be low levels but nuclear power is by no stretch of the imagination 'Clean Energy". BTW I thought they had put the brakes on building anymore nuke plants here in the good ole USA but perhaps this was all ready being built and they just decided to keep on going. If the powers that be had a brain in their head, they would shut all these nuclear power plants down today and embrace wind, solar, and tidal. We don't even need them, that's what I find so frustrating. Plus even after they shut them down we still have all that nuclear waste to contend with. What is wrong with our elected officials other than greed, arrogance, hubris………Ahhhhhh
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(1) One of the Vogtle reactors is still stranded after slipping off a train track:
http://enenews.com/reactor-vessel-slips-railroad-track-nuclear-plant-photo
(2) There are Problems with the concrete:
“due to the unresolved issues previously mentioned regarding rebar design around the elevator pits and sumps, this has been delayed. This critical path activity continues to experience schedule challenges and is behind schedule.”
http://aikenleader.villagesoup.com/p/vogtle-nuclear-reactor-still-stranded-in-savannah-pouring-of-nuclear-concrete-for-reactor-s-basema/951066
(3) Construction is 15-months behind and around $1 billion dollars in cost overruns, to date
(4) Surprisingly Mainstream media covered this too:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100420567/Report_SolyndraStyle_Problems_Seen_in_833_Billion_Federal_Loan_Guarantee_for_Vogtle_Nuclear_Reactor_Project
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So it's covered in MSM except for the part where one of the Vogtle reactors falls off the train. I suppose they think everyone assumes you just rag it clean after something like that and it's still good? It's still sitting there, right? I would hope that MSM add how the reactor falling off the train adds to the problems with the loan.
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It's sickening how much money is thrown at a toxic technology.
A billion on cost overruns at Vogtle and $8.3 Billion in taxpayer's money used for loans.
And yet I overheard the cashier at a local store saying she had five dollars to last her for the week.
People are POOR out there and yet so many millions and billions of dollars are landing in the same pockets.
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They haven't quite got to the criminal misappropriation and taxpayer-funded fraud part yet, I Dont Know. The $8.3 billion is only a federal loan guarantee right now.
Companies involved in this scam will run a few billion more over budget before declaring bankruptcy. *That's* the part where parasitic banks or some made-up government crony lending-kickback scams demand your $8.3 billion tax dollar guarantee.
Their RICO waterboys in Washington will already have the checks made out – no sense delaying the cocaine and underage-hooker after-party.
Pretty impressive shakedown and it only needed, what? Five guys to chump every single taxpayer in the U.S.?
http://energy.gov/leadership
Even the Yakuza has to be impressed. Er… sorry. WILL be impressed.
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12 reasons why all nuclear power plants must be shut down; via A Green Road http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/03/12-reasons-why-all-nuclear-power-plants.html
Nuclear Power; EXPENSIVE, Dirty, Dangerous And Toxic; via A Green Road
http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/10/nuclear-power-expensive-dirty-dangerous.html
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Words to ponder from the Chistian Science Monitor article:
"Under the category of "political interference," the report cites one e-mail from DOE staff revealed tight timelines to “move our first nuclear power deal forward.” Other e-mails showed direct contact between Vogtle project borrowers and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. And a 2010 e-mail from Jonathan Silver, then-executive director of loan programs at the US Department of Energy, noted that “We didn't deal with shaw" – the company slated to do much of the reactor construction – "The white house did.”
SP: Anybody still doubting the nuclear industry role in helping the current president achieve his two terms?
Chicago-based Exelon: Owns 17 nuclear reactors in America.
"Executives at the company have close ties to the Obama administration as advisors and fundraisers.[21] "Frank Clark, CEO of Exelon's Chicago-based subsidiary ComEd, was an Obama advisor and fundraiser, and Exelon director John Rogers has also raised funds for Obama."
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exelon#section_3
SP: They have considerable influence on their man in office.
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