"The organization's Oregon and Washington chapters wanted to draw attention to potential problems with the Columbia Generating Station after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, where three nuclear reactors at Fukushima melted down and another exploded. Last month, the group released reports saying the Columbia Generating Station is seismically unsafe-something the plant's operators deny.
"The physicians group turned to McCullough last spring to see if he would consider evaluating the plant's economics. He initially said no. 'A lot of nuclear advocacy is emotional,' he says. 'That doesn't mean it's wrong, but it's not data-driven.'"
McCullough knew the plant had experienced problems controlling its costs. But a cursory glance at the plant's recent annual reports piqued his curiosity-especially the Columbia Generating Station's cost of producing power.
"I'm not anti-nuke," McCullough says. "[But] I was surprised to see the differential was so high.'"
"McCullough is hardly anti-nuke-as a Portland General Electric executive 25 years ago, he fought to keep PGE's now-closed Trojan Nuclear Power Plant open
.
"But his report on the Columbia Generating Station leads to an unmistakable conclusion: It should be shut down.
Not for safety reasons, but because it has become the most expensive nuclear plant of its kind in the United States to run, and is a waste of money that costs ratepayers as much as an extra $50 per year.
McCullough says we could replace the plant with cheaper power and save ratepayers $1.7 billion over the next two decades.
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