nuclear-news

Secrets about Crystal River nuclear plant’s financial fiasco

The 36-year-old plant has been out of service since fall 2009. It may have to be shut down permanently because repair and related costs are expected to run in the billions of dollars.

Secrets about Crystal River nuclear plant could be revealed at hearings this week Tampa Bay Times, By Ivan Penn,  July 18, 2012 Duke Energy’s new Florida customers may find out this week just how good the utility is at keeping secrets about the troubled Crystal River nuclear plant.

The North Carolina Public Service Commission has summoned several Duke board members to explain the less-than-one-day tenure of Bill Johnson as CEO of the newly combined Duke-Progress Energy giant.

Johnson’s “lack of transparency” in his accounting of the busted Crystal River plant seems central to his ouster. Duke has revealed that its own secret report highlights the plant’s problems, but it has thus far resisted releasing the study.

The commission’s unusual move to call Duke board members to testify,
experts say, sends a clear message that the utility needs to justify
the removal of the man that for 18 months was slated to lead the
company after the merger. That could mean revealing what the secret
report concluded about the Crystal River plant….
The two utilities announced plans to merge in January 2011. At the
time, the Crystal River plant was expected to restart power production
two months later after a maintenance and upgrade project, as well as a
repair of a crack in the concrete containment building. But as workers
moved to restart the plant, the reactor’s 42-inch-thick concrete
containment building cracked again. Months later, as it sat idle, the
building suffered a third crack.

The 36-year-old plant has been out of service since fall 2009. It may have to be shut down permanently because repair and related costs are expected to run in the billions of dollars. The merger moved forward
with the utilities rarely mentioning Crystal River. But as the merger
closed, the new combined board voted 10 to 5 to replace Johnson with
Rogers.

James Cox, a Duke University law professor of corporate securities
law, said the hasty move unsettled investors because it raises
questions about the board’s decisionmaking and judgment…… Johnson
wanted to repair the plant while Rogers has spoken of giving more
consideration to shutting down the reactor. Either way, customers
could be on the hook for millions of dollars, if not billions….
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/energy/secrets-about-crystal-river-nuclear-plant-could-be-revealed-at-hearings/1240772

July 18, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA