Oregon Public Broadcasting

Twenty-five Northwest public utilities are considering whether to pony up $25,000 each to study the possibility of a new nuclear power plant.

What’s surprising is the request comes from Energy Northwest. That’s the company – renamed now – that brought the Northwest the failed WPPSS project back in the 1970s and 80s. Richland correspondent Anna King reports.

Only one of the nuclear power plants promised by the Washington Public Power Supply System chugs along today on the banks of the Columbia River.

Bonneville Power customers are still paying for three reactors, two that never got up.

Now, Energy Northwest is putting its political toe in the water to see if the Northwest is ready for another plant, probably on the Hanford Reservation.

John Harrison is spokesman for the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, which advises Bonneville Power. He says enough time may have passed for a fresh project, but there are still serious challenges.

John Harrison: "It’s emotional; it’s political … so it’s just a tough one. And it may be that this whole idea just goes away, I don’t know."

The public utilities have until June 23 to commit their $25,000 for a new study.