Media Credit: Tina Hogue Karen Engle and Gerald Torres, two scholars from the UT School of Law, present their papers, "Indigenous Roads to Development" and "Indigenous Peoples, Afro-Indigenous Peoples and Reparations" to a panel of students and colleagues for discussion Monday afternoon.

Two companies filed an application Monday to build a nuclear power station site in Texas, which could wean the state off its dependency on foreign oil.

New Jersey-based NRG Energy Inc. and South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company filed the first application in 29 years to construct and operate two new units at the existing South Texas Project site in Matagorda County, southwest of Houston.

NRG owns a portion of the South Texas Project, while San Antonio and Austin utilities own the rest. The city of Austin could not be reached for comment.

Energy needs in Texas will grow by 10,000 megawatts by 2014, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. If approved, the new units will produce at least 2,700 megawatts, enough energy to power more than 2 million Texas homes.

"The units will be enough to satisfy two years of energy growth in Texas," said David Knox, a spokesman for the Texas branch of NRG Energy.

Having a nuclear power plant provides environmental advantages as well, Knox said.

"Nuclear energy has no emissions whatsoever, which provides a tremendous advantage to greenhouse gasses," he said. "There are no alternatives to carbon-free emissions but nuclear energy."

Knox called the site in South Texas the best in the nation to support the additional units. The Matagorda County community and the state of Texas have been very supportive of the addition to the site, he said.

The additional units are projected to cost $5.2 billion, generate more than $9 billion in revenue for the state, require 4,000 to 6,000 construction workers and result in 800 staff positions, Knox said.

"This is the beginning of the rebuilding of an industry that will be beneficial to the whole country," Knox said.

Right now, 72 percent of generated electricity comes from natural gas, a clean burning fuel, and only 6.4 percent comes from nuclear energy.

"We have the ability to drive our fuel load," Knox said. "We can become less dependent on one source and have a price structure that's not so sensitive to the fluctuation of a commodity."

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