nuclear-news

Nuclear plant to close 10 years earlier, rather than install cooling towers

NJ Nuke Plant Closing 10 Years Early Oldest US nuke plant to close 10 years early, won’t have to build cooling towers, ABC News, The Associated Press By ANGELA DELLI SANTI and WAYNE PARRY  TRENTON, N.J. December 8, 2010
The nation’s oldest nuclear power plant will close in 2019 — 10 years earlier than planned — but will not have to build costly cooling towers, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation.

The people, who spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the plans ahead of an announcement expected Thursday, said the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in the Forked River section of Lacey Township will close a decade earlier than called for under its current license.

In return, the aging plant will not be required to build one or more cooling towers to replace its current technology, which draws 1.4 billion gallons of water a day from Barnegat Bay, killing billions of aquatic creatures each year.

The agreement over the plant’s closing is between its owner, Chicago-based Exelon Corp., and New Jersey officials, who will drop their demand that it build one or more cooling towers — a technology environmentalists have long wanted……….The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted the Oyster Creek station a new 20-year license in April 2009, rejecting concerns by opponents centered on corrosion to a metal enclosure that keeps superheated radioactive steam within a containment building.

APNewsBreak: NJ Nuke Plant Closing 10 Years Early – ABC News

December 9, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA