Hopeful pushes nuclear energy

The future of energy is nuclear, and Lauren W. "Bubba" McDonald wants to be a part of making it happen in Georgia as a member of the Public Service Commission.

Mr. McDonald, who served on the commission as a Democrat from 1998 through 2002, is running as a Republican.

"As we look at tomorrow, we've got to really be conscious about our energy needs," he said during a visit to Augusta on Friday. "We've never seen a period of time when the cost of energy has changed so much. I think the way we've got to go tomorrow is with nuclear energy."

During Mr. McDonald's previous tenure on the commission, he served as the chairman of the National Organization of the Nuclear Subcommittee.

"I was appointed by the president of the national organization, Jim Sullivan of Alabama, to represent the national group on the NEIL Nuclear Electricity Insurance Liability Corporation," he said. "It was a Bermuda Corp. They insure nuclear plants all over the world. And my exposure there showed me the nuclear energy is extremely safe."

The reserves they had for any type of catastrophe was more than $7.5 billion, he said.

Building plants now won't be as expensive as those built in the mid-1970s, Mr. McDonald said.

"But if the commission were to authorize Georgia Power for another nuclear plant in the next 12 months, it would be 2016 before the first kilowatt could be generated off that plant," he said. "So we've got to look beyond just today and tomorrow."

In the past 12 months, the price of coal has gone from $40 a ton to more than $80 a ton, and natural gas, because of the demand, has increased 200 percent in the past four years, he said.

"We have 250 years of coal left in this country. But by the same token, coal is a cheaper plant to build, but you've got to deal with the carbon footprint that comes out of it. Even natural gas as a fossil fuel has carbon emissions. Nuclear doesn't. It's clean. It's reliable. And we've got to have reliable, renewable and affordable energy in our future," he said.

Mr. McDonald was a member of the Georgia General Assembly from 1971 through 1990, representing Jackson, Barrow and Banks counties.

He was appointed to the Public Service Commission in 1998 by then-Gov. Zell Miller.

Reach Sylvia Cooper at (706) 823-3228 or sylvia.cooper@augustachronicle.com.