San Antonio utility settles over nuke plant expansion

[Fledermaus]

Why do nuclear power plants turn into money pits?

San Antonio municipal utility CPS Energy ended a two-month legal battle with its corporate partner in the proposed South Texas Project nuclear expansion with a settlement Wednesday that allows the utility to immediately stop making payments on the project while retaining a small share.

The partner, Nuclear Innovation North America, also agreed to pay CPS $80 million and contribute $10 million in assistance for low-income local residents to pay power bills.....

CPS' share of 7.625 percent would give it about 200 megawatts, or roughly a third of the additional energy the city will need by 2020.

CPS has spent about $370 million on the nuclear project's engineering and permitting.

The settlement, announced Wednesday at City Hall, still must be approved by the CPS board. That is expected to happen Monday.

CPS said it arrived at the $1 billion value of the deal by calculating 7.625 percent of the $13 billion CPS has projected the project to cost and adding the $90 million in payments to CPS and the REAP program.

The project's ultimate cost, though, still is unknown.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6872806.html

[jpak]

1. "The project's ultimate cost, though, still is unknown."

I bet it will increase - substantially..

yup