Colorado providers would welcome nuclear power

Colorado nuclear power faces renewed attention as Tri-State and Xcel Energy weigh federal backing, small modular reactors, grid reliability, renewable energy goals, carbon-free generation, costs, and radioactive waste after Fort St. Vrain's shutdown.

President Barack Obama is promising billions of dollars to help build the first American nuclear power plant in nearly 30 years. He says the $8 billion in loan guarantees for the two reactors in Georgia is just the start.

Colorado hasn't had a nuclear plant on line in 18 years, even as a nuclear energy revival unfolds across the country today. Major power providers have mixed reactions to the president's initiative.

In Colorado, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc. is a wholesale supplier of power. From a control room in Westminster, its 44 electric cooperatives serve primarily rural customers in several states, where coal is regaining status as energy prices rise. Tri-State's spokesman Robert McLennan welcomed the announcement by the president.

"I think it's a definite step, an historic step that indicates the administration is going to provide financial backing to the utilities to move forward with nuclear," McLennan said.

Xcel Energy is the primary power supplier to Colorado's cities and suburbs. Reacting to the president's announcement, Xcel says nuclear has to be part of any discussion about whether to expand nuclear power in Colorado, but the utility has concentrated on renewables. Xcel takes pride in the being the largest wind power provider in the U.S.

"We have to weigh the risk of the cost of building a nuclear power plant, considering the size of our company and the tremendous capital outlay that it takes to build a plant like that," Xcel Energy spokesman Tom Henley said in a prepared statement.

Tri-State sounds more enthusiastic.

"We are preserving our option to build a nuclear facility in the future," McLennan said.

Plants like the one supported by the president in Georgia are too big and expensive for Colorado's population right now. Tri-State says it makes more sense to wait for the next generation of smaller, more cost effective versions.

Nuclear power plants are expensive to build but cheap operate. There are no carbon emissions to worry about, but the big problem continues to be what to do with the radioactive waste generated by reactors.

Fort St. Vrain, Colorado's only nuclear power plant, was plagued by operating problems early on. It ran for 15 years but was shut down in 1992 and converted to natural gas, and Colorado residents later paid off the decommissioning bill for the plant. Fort St. Vrain is owned by Xcel Energy.

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