Experts To Warn That Billions In Taxpayer-Backed Loan Guarantees For New Reactors Are Imprudent In Wake Of NRC's Major Objections To AP-1000 Design

Experts To Warn That Billions In Taxpayer-Backed Loan Guarantees For New
Reactors Are Imprudent In Wake Of NRC's Major Objections To AP-1000 Design

NRC Action Throws Into Question Future of 14 of 31 Proposed New U.S. Reactors;
Forward Path Now Unclear for Proposed Reactors in NC, SC, GA, FL, AL -
Including AP-1000 Reactors in GA and SC on DOE Loan Guarantee Short List.

Given that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has objected to major
design problems in the AP-1000 reactor design slated to be used in 14 of 31
proposed new nuclear reactors in the United States, the Department of Energy
(DOE) should not issue "conditional loan guarantees" until the designs are
finalized and the reactors are fully licensed, according to four experts who
will speak out during a phone-based national news conference at 1:30 p.m. EDT
on October 22, 2009.

Late last week, the NRC concluded that the revised AP-1000 shield building
design would not withstand severe weather, including tornados, hurricanes and
earthquakes. That action by NRC comes as the DOE is on the verge of issuing
"conditional loan guarantees," two of which could go to utilities intending to
construct AP-1000 reactors. While nearly half of the proposed new generation
of nuclear reactors in the United States are now even more delayed and
uncertain due to their reliance on the AP-1000 design, the new development is
particularly significant for Georgia Power and South Carolina Electric & Gas
-- which are pursuing the flawed AP-1000 reactor and are on DOE's "short list"
of four utilities about to receive conditional loan guarantees. Other
utilities with AP-1000s also applied for loan guarantees but did not qualify
for the existing $18.5 billion currently authorized.

News event speakers will be:
-- Edwin Lyman, senior scientist, Global Security Program, Union of
Concerned Scientists (UCS) in Washington, DC, a position he has held
since May 2003;
-- Former Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) member Peter Bradford, an
adjunct professor at Vermont Law School and former chair of the New
York
and Maine utility commissions;
-- Henry D. Sokolski, executive director, Nonproliferation Policy
Education
Center, and former resident fellow at the National Institute for
Public
Policy, the Heritage Foundation and the Hoover Institution;

-- Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) Program Director, Sara
Barczak.

TO PARTICIPATE: You can join this live, phone-based news conference (with
full, two-way Q&A) at 1:30 p.m. EDT on October 22, 2009 by dialing 1 (800)
860-2442. Ask for the "crisis for loan guarantees" news event.

CAN'T PARTICIPATE?: A streaming audio replay of the news event will be
available on the Web at http://www.cleanenergy.org as of 6 p.m. EDT on October
22, 2009.

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy promotes responsible energy choices
that create global warming solutions and ensure clean, safe and healthy
communities throughout the Southeast. Founded in 1985, SACE is the only
regional organization primarily focused on developing clean energy solutions
throughout the Southeast. For more information, go to
http://www.cleanenergy.org on the Web.

CONTACT: Leslie Anderson, +1-703-276-3256, landerson@hastingsgroup.com, for
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

/PRNewswire-USNewswire -- Oct. 22/

SOURCE Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (Asheville, N.C., office); Southern
Alliance for Clean Energy (Savannah, GA, office)