nuclear-news

7 January hearing on Duke Energy’s Chrystal River nuclear plant

The status update on the Crystal River nuclear plant will be at 10
a.m. Monday at Betty Easley Conference Center, Room 148, 4075
Esplanade Way, Tallahassee. Follow the hearing online at
www.floridapsc.com.

New hearing on status of Crystal River nuclear plant
By Ivan Penn, Times, January 4, 2013 State regulators have scheduled a
hearing Monday to receive an update on the broken Crystal River
nuclear plant, which continues to sit idle with its future uncertain.

Duke Energy and its local subsidiary, Progress Energy Florida, have
yet to decide whether to repair the crippled plant or permanently shut
down the reactor.

Eduardo Balbis, a member of the Public Service Commission, scheduled
the hearing as part of an ongoing review of the nuclear plant.

In a settlement agreement reached last year with state regulators, the
utility agreed to refund customers $100 million if the company decided
to repair the plant but did not begin work by Dec. 31, 2012.

The utility already is refunding customers $288 million for
replacement power while Crystal River sits offline. If the utility
goes ahead with repairs, the additional $100 million would cover more
replacement power, which costs about $300 million for each year the
plant is idle.

The Crystal River nuclear plant went offline in fall 2009 for a
maintenance and upgrade project to replace old steam generators.
During the project, the plant’s 42-inch thick concrete containment
building cracked. An attempt to repair the problem and bring the plant
back online led to more cracks.

A key part of the decision about Crystal River’s future is whether the
insurance company, known as NEIL, will cover any or all of the costs
of repairing the plant. So far, NEIL has been reluctant to pay for the
repairs. Duke entered nonbinding negotiations with NEIL at the end of
last year.

Suzanne Grant, a Duke spokeswoman, said the negotiations with NEIL are
continuing.

Failure to reach an agreement could lead to a more formal, binding
process this spring.

A report on the Crystal River plant by Duke Energy estimated the
repair costs for the plant would run $1.5 billion to $3.4 billion plus
the $300 million a year in replacement power. All told, the total bill
for Crystal River could reach as much as $6 billion.
Listening in

The status update on the Crystal River nuclear plant will be at 10
a.m. Monday at Betty Easley Conference Center, Room 148, 4075
Esplanade Way, Tallahassee. Follow the hearing online at
www.floridapsc.com.

January 5, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general