nuclear-news

Duke Energy customers face $1 billion-plus – Crystal river USA -Arnold Gundersen

Some have nicknamed Crystal River the “Humpty Dumpty” plant. If Duke makes too many changes to the building, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission could require the utility to file an amendment to its operating license. That would require public hearings.”It opens the plant up to public participation, again,” said Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear engineer and consultant. “They’re terrified of letting this process open up.“

By Ivan Penn, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Duke Energy faces a potentially $3 billion decision on whether to fix its busted Crystal River nuclear plant. Regardless of their choice, however, customers will still get stuck paying for the billion-dollar-plus blunder.

If Duke shuts down the plant, customers will have to pay at least $1.6 billion to build another power source and buy alternate energy. If Duke fixes the plant, customers will be on the hook for buying more than $1 billion in alternate power even if they escape paying repair costs.

Those back-of-the-envelope numbers emerged in the wake of the independent review of repair options made public Monday. A close look at the details also reveals a major obstacle to any repair plan: the containment building’s long history of structural problems. That, the report says, raises the risk that any attempted repair could itself further damage the plant, potentially doubling the repair cost.

[…]

Duke maintains a decommissioning fund for Crystal River with about $600 million, but it could cost hundreds of millions more to completely shut down the facility.

Mitigating those expenses is whatever insurance pays toward repair and replacement power.

The insurer, the Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited, or NEIL, has not paid any money for damage at Crystal River since the second quarter of 2011. The policy includes coverage of more than $2 billion for repairs and $490 million for replacement power.

[…]

http://www.tampabay.com/news/article1254492.ece

October 3, 2012 - Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized