Friday, August 10, 2007


Aug. 10, 2007 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) --
NRG Energy Inc. said Thursday that it hired Toshiba Corp. to help design and build two new nuclear reactors at the South Texas Project in Bay City.

The reactors, scheduled to go online in 2014 and 2015, would be the first new nuclear plants in Texas since TXU Corp. (NYSE:TXU) finished building Comanche Peak in 1993 and could be the first new nuclear plant in the country.

NRG spokesman Dave Knox said the new reactors would cost between $6 billion and $7 billion, and the company is scouting for co-investors. NRG's partners at the South Texas Plant, the cities of Austin and San Antonio, haven't decided if they will invest in the new reactors.

NRG, with headquarters in New Jersey, plans to use reactor technology by Hitachi (NYSE:HIT) , similar to the nuclear plants that released some radioactive water after the earthquake in Japan earlier this year.

Mr. Knox said NRG wasn't put off by the spill, which, he said, amounted to about as much radiation as a dental X-ray.

'The operating reactor shut down exactly as designed,' he said. Plus, the South Texas Project site hasn't seen an earthquake since humans began tracking seismic activity.

Still, some environmental advocates say nuclear plants are too risky.

'The recent spillage at the Japanese plants proves that no matter how safe the reactor may appear to be, it's oftentimes the waste products that create a threat,' said Tom 'Smitty' Smith, head of the Texas office of consumer advocate Public Citizen.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0046-18803392


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