Public Square debates nuclear energy

Depending on how you look at it, speakers said, nuclear energy is dangerous and expensive, or safe and economical.

Dominion Virginia Power's North Anna Power Station produces about 20 percent of the electricity the company generates in Virginia annually, but the Aug. 23 central Virginia earthquake tripped its two reactors offline, an unprecedented event for the U.S. nuclear-power industry.

"Are the plants safe?" said Dominion Generation's Eugene S. Grecheck, a panelist invited to speak at Tuesday's Public Square forum at the Richmond Times-Dispatch's downtown offices. "That was the first thought that ran through all of our minds."

Despite the unexpectedly strong shaking, the Louisa County plant's twin 980-megawatt reactors shut down safely and without damage or risk to the public, federal officials said. Last Friday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved restarting the reactors, which should be at full power again next week.

"By design, this plant would have survived the earthquake without a problem," Grecheck, the company's vice president for nuclear development, said. "The design of these plants far exceeds the shaking they experienced."

But North Anna is in the central Virginia earthquake zone. The nuclear units should never have been constructed there, said Louis Zeller, science director for Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League in Glendale Springs, N.C.

"Earthquakes cannot be predicted," Zeller said.

About 90 people attended Tuesday's community discussion, which was moderated by Thomas A. Silvestri, head of the Richmond Media Group, which includes The Times-Dispatch, TimesDispatch.com, Richmond.com and Richmond Suburban Newspapers.

While nuclear-power supporters — and Dominion Virginia Power employees — dominated the audience, the give-and-take on critical issues was balanced.

Rodney Adams of Forest, an employee of energy firm Babcock & Wilcox in Lynchburg, reminded nuclear opponents that no one died in Japan as a result of the crippling of the Fukushima nuclear plant, while 20,000 died in the March earthquake and tsunami. "Why are we supposed to be so worried about Fukushima?" Adams asked.

But Erica Gray, a grandmother and organic farmer in Henrico County, retorted, "Fukushima, by the way, is ongoing."

She questioned Dominion Virginia Power's preparation for a potential disaster, from the distribution of radiation medicine to the evacuation of homes around North Anna.

Dave Wilkins, a business-development manager for a Mechanicsville company that helps customers reduce low-level radioactive waste, praised Dominion Virginia Power for the design and operation of North Anna.

"When the earthquake hit, the safety systems kicked in," said Wilkins, a former Louisa County resident who called the North Anna plant the most safety-conscious that he has seen.

"It's not a Chernobyl," he said. "It's not a Fukushima."

Dominion Virginia Power's nuclear-power stations produce tons of highly radioactive waste annually, but the U.S. has not provided a national repository for spent reactor fuel, said panelist Jerry Rosenthal, a Louisa County resident and a member of Concerned Citizens of Louisa County.

No state wants to have the national nuclear-waste site.

"In the U.S., we have a 'scientific' problem with nuclear waste," said panelist Sama Bilbao y Leon. However, "it's all political science," said the nuclear-engineering professor at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dominion Virginia Power, the state's largest electric utility, wants to build another nuclear unit at North Anna. However, Rosenthal said, "Dominion's going to put too many eggs in one basket."

"I'm a shareholder in Dominion," Rosenthal said, "but we do have good alternatives" to nuclear power: wind, solar, natural gas and conservation.

Dominion Virginia Power's North Anna and Surry nuclear-power plants provide about 40 percent of the electricity the company generates in the state.

North Anna's third reactor would be designed to withstand more than four times as much shaking as the first two units.

"They're going to let North Anna 1 and 2 operate at this lower standard," Rosenthal said.

In isolation, neither standard is meaningful, Grecheck said, noting that the earthquake demonstrated that the existing units are in fact much stronger than their theoretical design.

Nuclear power has received $60 billion in federal subsidies since 1948, Zeller said, and relies on federal loan guarantees to make the technology affordable to build.

"Let's stop the subsidies for everyone," Rosenthal said, "and then we will find out what is efficient and what's not."

 Electricity is vital to human quality of life, said Bilbao y Leon, and the world's developing nations are signing up to build 65 new nuclear-power plants.