Georgia Power and its utility partners Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia, Oglethorpe Power and Dalton Utilities are headed toward a nuclear relapse, betting billions of ratepayer and taxpayer dollars on nuclear power when the dollar is down, when filling up the gas tank is painful, when droughts have become the norm, and when the threat of climate change cannot be ignored.

Let's talk money. Environmentalists and nuclear naysayers did not stop nuclear power decades ago. Wall Street did. Today's economics are no better, and the industry needs massive federal loan guarantees to underwrite the cost of expansion. Proponents of the free market and skeptics of socialism should be alarmed. In May, Georgia Power estimated that its 45.7 percent stake in the two new reactors would be approximately $6.4 billion, putting the full project cost at around $14 billion. Municipalities that are buying into MEAG's Vogtle expansion are putting their taxpayers on the hook if costs soar. If the past is any guide, cost overruns are likely.

Nuclear power isn't going to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Only a tiny fraction of our nation's electricity comes from oil. And the majority of our uranium comes from foreign sources. Given the high costs of new nuclear power plants, consumers will likely have even less money to spend at the pumps as their electricity bills here in Georgia continue to rise.

Big users of water

As the drought continues, Georgia Power and other utilities keep pushing for more water-guzzling nuclear power. According to the Energy Department, nuclear power plants use far more water than do such renewable energy supplies as wind and solar; in fact, nuclear uses more water than any other energy technology.

Southern Co.'s expansion application estimates that the proposed new Vogtle reactors will draw 55 million to 88 million gallons of water per day from the Savannah River, with 50 percent to 75 percent of that lost as steam.With average per capita daily water use in Georgia at 75 gallons from surface and ground water sources, this means the two existing and two proposed reactors at Plant Vogtle would use enough water to supply 1.4 million to 2.3 million Georgians. Water users throughout the Savannah River basin, from Lake Hartwell to Savannah, will likely be affected.

In terms of climate change, the Southeast faces increasing threat of drought in coming years, based on climate models. Global warming could actually render nuclear power plants useless during extreme drought conditions as water supply dwindles and fails to provide enough water to run the plants.

A collaborative, nuclear-industry-endorsed report conducted by the Keystone Center in 2007 found that to have a significant impact on global warming, nuclear power would have to realize unprecedented worldwide growth for several decades. With an estimated price tag of $6 billion to $8 billion per reactor and 2016 as the earliest date to bring new reactors online in this country, building more nuclear plants would not be a cost-effective or timely way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Nor will new reactors do anything to reduce global warming pollution from existing coal-fired power plants. In contrast, according to the Rocky Mountain Institute, each dollar invested in energy efficiency in the U.S. displaces 10 times as much carbon dioxide as a dollar invested in nuclear power. And energy efficiency is available today, saving both our money and water.

Safer alternatives

Yet some want to see a hundred or more new reactors built here, which will produce even more nuclear waste while leaving little money to invest in real solutions that we can safely transfer around the world, such as energy efficiency and renewables, including wind, solar and biomass.

As we're seeing with Iran, it's unlikely that the U.S. would be keen on having nuclear power technologies shipped all over the globe. Global warming and all smart energy policies require terror-resistant solutions. No matter what you think about nuclear power, it will not solve global warming and it can only complicate strained international relations.

But in spite of these nuclear-induced headaches, Georgia and several of our neighboring states are headed for a nuclear relapse. Don't let history repeat itself. We can't afford it, and we don't have time.

Sara Barczak is program director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy: www.clean

energy.org