From January 1987 through June, 1997 Edward Smeloff served on the elected Board of Directors of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), the fifth largest publicly owned utility in the US. During that time he served as board president, vice president, chair of the board's policy and fiscal committees and chair of the utility's task force on renewable energy development.
While president of the board of directors, immediately following the closure of the utility's nuclear plant by Sacramento's voters, he oversaw the development of a recovery plan that emphasized investments in energy efficiency measures, a diversified portfolio of power purchases, the development of three local co-generation facilities (
Smeloff was in town last week presenting his experience in the field and hoped the Taiwan government would consider his opinions when re-evaluating the controversial project for the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant .
The closure of a US plant
Alarm bells sounded in the control room, the nerve center of the gigantic Rancho Seco nuclear plant owned by SMUD in the early dawn the day after Christmas 1985.
In 16 seconds the temperature in the reactor climbed dramatically. With the increase in temperature, control rods automatically fell into the reactor core, stopping the nuclear chain reaction.
The Rancho Seco nuclear plant, near Sacramento, California, was ordered in 1964 as the 50th nuclear plant in the US and went into operation in 1974 as the first of three planned plants for in the area. The plant's performance began to deteriorate in 1984.
The cause of the Rancho Seco accident in 1985 was later traced to a crimped wire in a tiny electrical switching box. Four hours after the "event," a term used by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) later to describe the least serious of four categories of emergency situations, was declared over.
But the ordeal for SMUD had just begun.
The first cracks in the community's support for the Rancho Seco nuclear plant began to appear in 1986. Elections for the SMUD board had spawned a community debate about alternatives to Rancho Seco.
A week before the board election, a Sacramento-based anti-nuclear group kicked off a campaign to give voters the final say on the what they called "trouble nuclear plant."
The closure of the plant came on June 6, 1989, after two years of campaigning on the part of anti-nuclear activists.
A large voter turnout helped tip the scales in the rejection by a margin of 53.4 percent to 46.6 percent. Sacramento had became the first community in the US to close a nuclear reactor by public vote.
A word with Smeloff
Taipei Times: Would you please talk about local opposition in Sacramento to the Rancho Seco nuclear plant during the 1980s?
Smeloff: Sacramentans for Safe Energy, or SAFE, was actually a small group of 20 to 30 members, including people ranging from housewives to local lawyers. One of the persons involved was a physics professor at the local university, who worked on the Manhattan nuclear weapon's project (in 1942) and had become very skeptical of nuclear power.
SAFE became very dedicated after the Chernobyl accident in 1986.
They began circulating a petition to qualify a measure for the ballot, and they gathered 50,630 signatures.
That was more than twice the number needed to qualify their ballot measure.
Later, they submitted these signatures to public authorities and the utility.
TT: What other pressure did SMUD receive at the time?
Smeloff: The local media played a very important role (in the debate on the closure) The nuclear industry put in US$2 million to buy radio advertising (to provide the public with one-sided opinions).
The Sacramento Bee supported closing it, but the Sacramento Union supported keeping it. At the time of the (SMUD) election, the movement gathered steam.
TT: Compare the movement in Sacramento with that in Taiwan.
Smeloff: It seems that there's a bigger movement here in Taiwan. I saw pictures of the demonstration, showing thousands of people protesting the NPP-4 (Fourth Nuclear Power Plant,
There was never that many people protesting the Rancho Seco nuclear plant. But in Sacramento, state laws allow for referendum; allow the voters to qualify the ballot.
As I understand it, Taiwan does not have this law.
TT: Did SMUD change due to the public vote?
Smeloff: The change was remarkable. First of all, the utility was able to reduce its cost. After the nuclear plant closed, the electric crisis stabilized. Electricity prices have not gone up since 1989. Second, the utility was able to reduce its debts.
Third, the utility made investments in promising renewable and clean energy technologies, such as solar energy, wind power, fuel cells and bio-gas (沼氣).
TT: How do you see energy policy in Taiwan?
Smeloff: I was impressed that energy officials here had studied what is happening elsewhere in the world and that there's a movement toward opening up markets in electricity. Most advanced countries have developed their electricity under a monopoly structure, but the trend is changing.
TT: What do you suggest should be done with the NPP-4 project in Taiwan?
Smeloff: If Taiwan creates competition in the market for electricity, that's going to undermine the economic viability of NPP-4. I believe that energy officials in Taiwan really see the opportunities for competition and lowering prices. If they consistently follow that logic, they would see that NPP-4 is not necessary.
TT: Is there any alternative to nuclear energy that is more suitable for Taiwan?
Smeloff: Taiwan should consider alternatives.
But the problem in Taiwan is that natural gas is more expensive here than elsewhere in Asia and North America. That's because of the monopoly here in natural gas importation and distribution.
So, a very important policy for Taiwan would be to break up that monopoly and introduce competition into the energy market.
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