the industry’s trade organization. One contacts the NEI to learn if a problem is unique to a particular plant, or if it has appeared throughout the industry.
According to the NEI, underground leaks are common, though they primarily pose a problem only if the leak contaminates a source of drinking water. In the industry’s view, the threat is miti- gated by dilution.
NEI has three main functions: public relations, lobbying Con- gress and state governments on policy, and negotiating with the NRC over the regulations governing the nuclear industry. Negotiating with the NRC is critical. For example, after the Fukushima Daiichi reactor disaster in Japan, NEI formed a working group to head off an NRC effort to require more seismically hard- ened facilities and improvements in emergency backup power for reactors. In the end, it was agreed there would be regional plans in which equipment would be pre-positioned and available to be shipped to any facility in distress. One such regional facility is at the Callaway Nuclear Generating Station in Missouri. NEI’s function in establishing the final form of the regulations governing the industry makes it an important stop when covering industry-wide issues, and the industry group has a roster of experts available for on-the-record discussions. (
j.mp/NRC_OPA). They are accessible, although journalists should keep in mind they are promoting a point of view.
Understanding the business side
Aside from incidents, it is important to note the economic framework in which nuclear plants operate — the varying forms of the electricity marketplace and relative robustness of the state or
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A reporter snaps a shot of the cooling tower at the Calloway nuclear power plant. Photo: courtesy of Sara Shipley Hiles
regional electrical grids. For more than a century, power grids were developed and maintained by monopoly utilities that owned both the transmission lines and the power plants using them. In the 1990s, many states and regions embraced the notion of developing competitive markets where electricity was sold like any other commodity, and forcing the utilities to choose between being transmission and service com- panies or power providers. That spawned the development of nuclear merchant fleets, where companies like Exelon, Entergy and Duke bought plants from utilities or municipalities. Efforts to create a seamless national grid died with the admin- istration of President George W. Bush, but the northeast power blackout of 2003 showed that there is a need for a national entity with enforcement authority to set standards for the various grids (see sidebar, p. 17). Understanding the business framework provides a way for journalists to evaluate utility demands. For example, FirstEnergy asked the Public Utilities Commis- sion of Ohio for a rate increase to guarantee an 11.5 percent profit on its nuclear plant, which was losing money because of competi- tion from wind farms and gas generators in the 13-state region served by the PJM Interconnect.
Journalists could ask: Should legislators take advantage of re- gional competition and lower prices, even if it means losing a local power plant and its economic impact?
Reporters need to get away from the long-held assumption that all electricity generation is local and the only nuclear plant you need to care about is the one in your state. These days, reporters need to be concerned about the safety and operation of any reactor within 50 miles and the economic impact of any plant within the increas- ingly competitive free market.
Wm. Roger Witherspoon has spent five decades working in all forms of the media as a journalist, author, educator and public re- lations specialist. He is an SEJ board member.
18 SEJournal Summer 2016
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