nuclear-news

Rising Risks The dispute underscores the stakes for U.S. power companies weighing nuclear investments against falling power prices and risks that plants won’t be relicensed or may close prematurely. Regulators haven’t approved Duke’s plans to pass repair expenses on to clients, and decommissioning costs haven’t been tallied.

Edison International (EIX) faces a similar decision with its 30- year-old San Onofre atomic station near Los Angeles , shut down since January because of leaks and unusual wear to its steam generators.

The surplus of gas-fired power plants in the western U.S. weakens the case for repairing and restarting San Onofre’s twin reactors. “The argument that ratepayers need to keep supporting Grandma lasts for about 15 seconds,” John Geesman, a former California  energy commissioner, said in a phone interview. He serves as outside counsel for the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility, which has lobbied the state to keep that plant idle…..

Oyster Creek Exelon Corp. (EXC) of Chicago decided in 2010 that it was more economical to close its Oyster Creek reactor in Forked River, New Jersey , when its license expired in 2019 than spend as much as $801 million to build a cooling tower demanded by state officials.

Duke’s board faces a more complicated analysis as it decides the best approach to its Crystal River plant, 80 miles (129 kilometers) north of Tampa.

The silo-shaped concrete building that houses the Crystal River 3 reactor cracked in 2009 as crews replaced the steam generators, huge pipe assemblies that transfer heat from the nuclear reactor to power-generating turbines. Once the damaged panel was patched, two other sections cracked in March and July 2011 after workers tightened steel tendons intended to strengthen the structure.

“We’re not joking when we call it the Humpty Dumpty reactor,” Stephen Smith , executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said in a phone interview. “We think they ought to quit throwing good money after bad.”