Kaine administration touts nuclear and wind energy in Virginia
In a speech before a Virginia Chamber of Commerce conference last week, outgoing Natural Resources Secretary Preston Bryant urged Governor-elect Bob McDonnell to expand nuclear and wind energy in Virginia. Secretary Bryant touted Virginia’s thriving nuclear industry and trumpeted Virginia’s potential to generate significant amounts of wind energy off the coast of Virginia Beach reports the Lynchburg News & Advance.
‘Virginia is rich in nuclear assets — four nuclear reactors and a fifth to be put online by about 2017,’ Bryant said, referring to Dominion Power’s plans for expanding its North Anna plant in Louisa County.
‘We also have thousands of people currently working in the nuclear services industry, and we know that AREVA in Lynchburg and Northrop Grumman have formed an exciting new partnership in Newport News,’ said Bryant, a Lynchburg native.
Nuclear energy currently supplies almost 40% of Virginia’s electricity supply. Nuclear energy affords Virginia a tremendous opportunity to advance the goal of energy independence. Once it is completed next year, Areva’s and Northrop Grumman’s nuclear components plant in Newport News will manufacture all of the parts for Virginia’s future reactors.
While Virginia currently imports 100% of our nuclear fuel from other states and foreign countries, the undeveloped Coles Hill uranium deposit in Pittsylvania County could fuel Virginia’s entire nuclear energy supply for 65 years. However, Virginia’s moratorium on uranium mining prevents the development of this significant resource. A Virginia Coal and Energy Commission study from the early 1980’s concluded that the deposit could be mined safely and would not pose an environmental hazard. The National Academy of Sciences is conducting its own 18-month study to make recommendations to the General Assembly as it considers lifting the moratorium. Developing the Coles Hill deposit would be a giant leap toward achieving energy independence in Virginia.
