Shaken industry: Tremors from Japanese disaster rattle future of US nuclear power - Houston Chronicle

As Japanese workers labor feverishly in health-threatening conditions to try to tame the tiger that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility has become in the wake of the earthquake-tsunami double disaster, its economic fallout is being felt in Texas.

Because Tokyo Electric Power Co., the owner of the crippled plant, was a likely investor in the expansion of the South Texas Project's nuclear facilities near Bay City southwest of Houston, the unfolding disaster could take down the financing of the project expansion. CPS Energy, the utility that would purchase the additional electricity from STP, and majority expansion partner NRG Energy have suspended talks amid speculation the expansion is on the skids. Already considered a risky investment because of massive costs in a down economy, new nuclear construction now faces a whole new set of questions.

As with previous nuclear power plant mishaps at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania and Chernobyl in the Ukraine, Fukushima is casting a long shadow over efforts to jump start U.S. nuclear power plant building as an alternative to dependence on foreign sources of fossil fuels.

A USA Today/Gallup poll conducted since the Japanese disaster showed 70 percent of those polled expressed worries about nuclear power, up from 57 percent before the earthquake. The poll found 47 percent of Americans oppose building more nuclear power plants, with 44 percent in favor.

Ironically, just as the BP oil spill in the Gulf came as the Obama administration had finally embraced offshore drilling, so the latest disaster may counter the recent push for a revival of nuclear energy in the U.S. So far officials, including the president and Energy Secretary Steven Chu, say the Obama administration is still backing loan programs for construction of nuclear power plants. According to Chu, America's security requires a "diverse set of energy sources including renewables like wind and solar, natural gas, clean coal and nuclear power."

President Obama told CBS that "all energy sources have their downsides" and the Japanese situation should spur a continuous effort to make nuclear technologies safer.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who lives five miles from the Oconee Nuclear Station in his home state, said he opposed any halt in nuclear plant construction but did think the nuclear industry should do a better job of explaining the issues than the oil industry did after the BP spill.

While the situation in Japan is horrendous, our nearest nuke is in a very different situation. While some nuclear plants in California are on the coast near major fault lines prone to earthquakes that can generate tsunamis, the South Texas Project is in a seismic zone rated 0 for quakes. It also sits 11 miles inland from the Gulf about 29 feet above sea level. Safety studies have estimated that a combined Category 5 hurricane and a 100-year flood on the Colorado River would not produce water levels above 28 feet.

While the diesel back-up systems at the Japanese facility were located at the lowest point of the plant complex where they were swamped by tsunami waters, STP's generators are shielded in steel-reinforced concrete buildings designed to weather hurricane force winds and storm surges.

For sure, there are lessons to be learned from Fukushima, not the least of which is the need for authorities to be candid with their citizenry when such mishaps occur and better prepared to deal with all eventualities. But whether we're coping with an immediate threat or deciding the long-term future of a vital power source, clear-headed reckoning must always trump panicked over-reaction.