MidAmerican pays $44,000 for 'public perception' assessment as part of nuclear power feasibility study

MidAmerican Energy paid $44,000 for "public perception" research as part of its 3-year, $15-million study on the feasibility of building a nuclear power plant in Iowa.

The assessment bill from Des Moines advertising/public relations firm Flynn Wright, Inc. was among the $2.3 million in expenses MidAmerican Energy charged to Iowa customers in the first year of the feasibility study.

The privately owned utility obtained legislative approval in April 2010 to collect up to $15 million from customers to pay for the feasibility study. At the end of the three-year study, the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) will conduct a hearing to review and approve or deny recovery of the expenses submitted by MidAmerican for the feasibility study.

MidAmerican initially wanted to keep details of the study expenses confidential, citing concerns disclosure would harm its competitive position. However, after bettendorf.com asked the IUB to deny the confidentiality request, MidAmerican released the information.

"The typical nuclear site selection process requires the assessment of different regions, areas and sites on numerous criteria," a MidAmerican Energy spokesman said. "Flynn Wright was retained to conduct the assessment, which included data collection, evaluations and public perception measurements." The firm was paid $44,162 in December 2010.

The company declined to provide any additional information on how the assessment of public perceptions was done, what questions were part of the assessment or how many Iowans were surveyed.

"When that 2013 proceeding takes place, MidAmerican will be required to demonstrate the reasonableness and prudence of the costs it has incurred," the spokesman said. "MidAmerican has not completed its analysis, and such analysis is not of public record."

In addition to the ad agency work, the utility paid $4,052 to public relations firm Wixsted Pope Nora Thompson and Associates (WPNT) of West Des Moines, and $4,800 to the Philadelphia-based legal firm of Morgan, Lewis and Bockius LLP.

WPNT specializes in training business executives to communicate with the media on a variety of issues including nuclear power.

Morgan, Lewis and Bockius is 1,300-member global law firm that includes a Washington office specializing in nuclear power plant laws and regulations. The firm's web site says it "helped obtain the first design certification ever issued by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the first early site permit (ESP) issued in the U.S."

The bulk of the more than $2.3 million spent through last September - $1.6 million - went to Chicago engineering firm Sargent & Lundy for "site selection, business plan, and technical assessment" work. Another engineering firm, Black & Veatch, of Overland Park, KS, was paid $207,000 in that same period for unspecified services. According to the utility report to the IUB, none of the site evaluation work to date has involved any actual on-site activities, such as taking soil borings, that would require notice to property owners.

One of Sargent & Lundy's area's of expertise is analyzing possible sites for nuclear power plants, while Black & Veatch has experience in advanced reactor design and nuclear power plant construction.

One of the "technical assessments" Sargent & Lundy is conducting is an analysis of "NuScale Technology," a new modular reactor design under development by NuScale Power LLC, of Corvallis, OR.

MidAmerican officials have used artist renderings of the NuScale reactor design in public presentations about smaller, advanced modular power plants which might be built in Iowa.

MidAmerican President and CEO Bill Fehrman serves on NuScale's advisory board that confers "on ways the company's (NuScale) technology can best meet the needs of electric utilities in an increasingly dynamic energy environment."

Fehrman was a participant in an October 2011 news conference where Fluor Corporation, of Irving, TX, invested $30 million in NuScale Power and became majority shareholder of the firm.

CLICK HERE to download a design overview of the modular NuScale nuclear power plant concept.

CLICK HERE to view the NRC's overview of NuScale, one of four advanced reactors listed on its web site.

According to its web site, NuScale plans to submit its full application for design certification to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in late 2012, with certification proceedings expected to take 24 to 36 months after submission.

CLICK HERE to go to the Iowa Utilities Board website to download the unredacted spreadsheet of MidAmerican Energy's first-year feasibility study expenses.