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Hand-Building Workshop
EVERY SUNDAY 2-4pm - run For All Ages!
/Aniens, Ga
MM Half Marathon
NEED5
YOU!
A Benefit for AthFest Educational Programs
...for Expo operations, course directing,
race-day operations, runner hospitality
and other projects.
To sign up for the Athens, GA Half Marathon
October 22-23, 2011, please visit the
HandsOn Northeast Georgia website at
http://volunteer.truist.com/hng/volunteer/home
BOTH ARTISTS BOTH NIGHTS SWITCHING OFF HEADLINING SETS
NEXT FRIDAY-SATURDAY!
SPECIAL GUESTS
BIG GIGANTIC / BONOBO DJ SET
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All PRETTY LIGHTS MUSIC AVAILABLE FOR
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NUCLEAR PLANTS MAKE ME NERVOUS
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission began
its hearings last week on a request from
Southern Co. for a license to build and operate
two more nuclear reactors at Georgia Poxver's
Plant Vogtle. It appears likely the NRC will
grant the licenses for the Vogtle units either
later this year or by next January, which would
give Georgia the distinction of having the first
new nuclear plants to be authorized in this
country in more than 30 years.
I'm not sure that is something we should
celebrate. This is the most expensive proj
ect ever undertaken in this state—Georgia
Power now estimates the cost of building the
reactors at nearly $15 billion, a total
that will most surely go up after the
inevitable cost overruns occur.
Consumers and small businesses
even now are paying higher
rates—six years before the
plants even begin operating—
just to cover the financing costs
of this massive project. These
rate hikes are being imposed on
the average homeowner in the mid
dle of the worst economic downturn
since the Great Depression.
There's nothing to be done about the
financial aspects of this project, of course.
The Georgia Public Service Commission voted
to authorize the higher rates, and that deci
sion will not be reversed. There is another
factor, however, that makes me very nervous
about these nuclear reactors, and should make
you nervous as well.
Six months ago we saw the horrific melt
down of a nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan,
after an earthquake hit that part of the
country. Japanese residents will have to deal
for years with the high incidence of cancer
and other health hazards associated with the
release of all that radioactivity.
The vigilant members of our PSC aren't
worried that such a calamity could happen
here. I have yet to hear any of them express
the slightest concern about the possibil
ity of a meltdown at Plant Vogtle. I'm sure
the commissioners and their good friends at
Georgia Power would tell you not to worry,
because earthquakes just don't happen in
Georgia. Except that they do.
When an earthquake hit Virginia in August,
the tremors were felt in Atlanta and other
parts of North Georgia. If you go to the web
site of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS),
you will learn that other earthquakes have
hit Georgia harder than the Virginia quake.
Georgia felt tremors from the New Madrid
series of earthquakes in 1811-12. There was
an earthquake in Milledgeville in 1872. An
earthquake centered near Tybee Island shook
the Savannah area in 1903, an earth
quake happened southeast of Atlanta
in 1916, and an earthquake was
recorded northeast of Macon in
1964.
Here's some more information
from the USGS files:
"The great Charleston, SC
earthquake of 1886 caused severe
shaking experienced in Georgia.
On Aug. 31 at 9:25 p.m., preceded
by a low rumble, the shock waves
reached Savannah... Ten buildings in
Savannah were damaged beyond repair and at
least 240 chimneys damaged. People spent the
night outside. At Tybee Island light station
the 134-foot lighthouse was cracked near the
middle where the walls were six feet thick,
and the one-ton tens moved an inch and a
half to the northeast.
"In Augusta the shaking was the most
severe (VIII on the Modified Mercalli scale) in
the state. An estimated 1,000 chimneys and
many buildings were damaged."
Keep in mind that the Plant Vogtle reactors
will be located not that far from Augusta. It
is true that Georgia is not situated on a fault
line, so the possibility of a severe earthquake
here is a small one. But even if that small pos
sibility doesn't bother the public servants at
the PSC, it makes me very nervous.
Tom Crawford tcrawford@gareport com
THIS MSIhlN WtILB
TOP REPUBLICANS CONSULT WITH
THE BRILLIANT DR. VON PHILBERT.'
WE WANT TO GIVE AMERICANS
LOWER GAS PRICES!
USING MY newly-completed TIME
TUNNEL, I WILL SEND YOU MIL
LIONS Of YEARS INTO THE PAST—
TO THE LAND MASS WHICH WILL
EVENTUALLY BECOME THE U.S.—
-WHERE YOU WILL EXPONENTIALLY
INCREASE THE DINOSAUR POPU
LATION THROUGH A PROCESS Of
ACCELERATED
Dy TOM TOMORROW
YOU WILL THEN HUNT THEM DOWN
AND KILL THEM.' BY THE TIME
YOU RETURN, THERE WILL BE
PLENTY Of EXTRA OIL--RIGHT
UNDER OUR OWN PEET!
I I
BUT YOU MUST BE VERY CAREfUL
NOT TO CHANGE ANYTHING ELSE
IN THE PAST.
6 FLAGPOLE.COM • OCTOBER 5,2011
UM "TJM^RRpWsiOII •••'*ww.thismod«mworld.com...twitter.com/tomtomorrow
