Georgia Power: If you're going to do anything about carbon and greenhouse gases, nuclear has to be a part of that solution.

Today my hat is off to Georgia Power.

From the AJC:

Georgia Power said Tuesday it has reached an engineering and construction deal with Westinghouse Electric Co. for two 1,100-megawatt nuclear reactors at the utility's Vogtle plant south of Augusta.

If approved, the plants promise customers higher power bills when they come online in 2016. The deal marks the first agreement between a power company and a nuclear-reactor vendor in the United States since the 1970s, said Oscar Harper, Georgia Power's vice president of resource planning.

Nuclear power is making a comeback in the United States as the nation tries to lessen its dependence on natural gas and foreign oil as well as cut back on carbon emissions and other pollutants.

[N]uclear plants are actually cheaper in the long run. There are two main messages: The fuel is not as prone to wild price swings like natural gas. Secondly, it also does not produce carbon emissions and will not be subject to a future carbon tax, which will plague coal-fired and natural gas plants.

"A nuclear plant is more expensive upfront, but it's cheaper to run," Harper said. "And if you're going to do anything about carbon and greenhouse gases, nuclear has to be a part of that solution."

Georgia Power is acting on behalf of Vogtle's other co-owners: Oglethorpe Power, Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and Dalton Utilities.
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My hometown Douglas is a proud member of the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia.