nuclear power

March 12, 2012 - Since the nuclear crisis in Japan, nothing has changed to make the U.S. nuclear industry any safer -- and the natural disaster-prone South remains especially vulnerable.

February 2, 2012 - New developments raise serious questions about whether Progress Energy will ever build two reactors planned for Levy County, Fla. -- but its customers are still on the hook for the billion-dollar planning bill.

December 9, 2011 - The American Legislative Exchange Council, American Tradition Institute and the John Locke Foundation are preaching against wind energy and renewable mandates in presentations that play fast and loose with the facts.

November 17, 2011 - The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission wants to stick the region's ratepayers with the bill for reactor design changes necessitated by the Japanese disaster -- but a coalition of nuclear watchdogs is trying to prevent that from happening.

October 13, 2011 - A recent United Nations report found that 80 percent of the world's energy needs could be met with renewable sources by 2050. So why are the Southeast's big electric utilities doing so little to make the transition to clean energy despite the worsening climate crisis?

September 19, 2011 - The N.C. Utilities Commission will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 20 about the proposed merger of Progress Energy and Duke Energy to form the nation's largest electric utility, which would operate under the Duke Energy name. The hearing represents the public's last chance to weigh in on the plan. If the merger is approved, the company would become the largest U.S. utility, worth over $35 billion and with more than 7 million customers in the Carolinas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.

March 21, 2011 - Amount the nuclear power industry spent on lobbying from 2000 to 2010: $600 millionAmount the industry spent during that same period on campaign contributions: nearly $63 millionAmount the Nuclear Energy Institute -- an industry trade group whose members include the company that owns the imperiled Japanese nuclear plant -- spent lobbying the federal government during the past three years: $6.12 millionNumber of federal lobbyists on the NEI's roster: more than 20