nuclear-news

Shutdowns in the continuing decline of USA’s nuclear industry

Nuclear Shutdown News, December 2014, Ob Rag by MICHAEL STEINBERG on DECEMBER 19, 2014 by Michael Steinberg / blackrainpress

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the continuing decline of the US nuclear power industry. As nuclear power reactors approach or surpass their planned operating life of 40 years, they have become less and less reliable and more and more threatening. What to do about this? A complete and immediate shut down of them all! NO NUKES!

Here’s our December report.

On December 3 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that central Missouri’s 30 year old Callaway nuclear reactor had experienced a sudden unplanned shutdown. As the Dispatch-Post stated,“Power in the [nuclear] core went from 100% to 0” right away………

Also on December 3, Broomberg.com published “US Nuclear Plants Squeezed by Cheap Gas, Uranium Costs: US Nuclear Plant Shut Downs loom amid rising costs for uranium and low prices caused by cheap natural gas.”
This article details how these economic factors are forcing Chicago-based Excelon, the nation’s largest nuke plant owner, which operates 23 reactors, into considering the shutdown five of its Illinois reactors in the near future.

The Bloomberg article reports that the rising cost of nuclear fuel, including “prices that rose to a two year high of $44 a pound on November 11.” Meanwhile, “US nuclear plants, who consume 20% of the world’s nuclear fuel, are struggling to stay profitable after a 70% drop since 2008” in the price of “natural gas, a competing fuel for power generation.”…..

Earlier this year, on March 9, the Chicago Tribune reported that six of Excelon’s nuclear reactors in the region “failed to turn a profit over the past five years.” Of these, five are still said to be on the chopping block.

All are in Illinois. The two reactors at the Quad Cities nuke plant are over 40 years old. Two more at the Byron nuke date from the mid 80s, as does the one at the Clinton nuclear plant.

According to the Bloomberg report:

 “Excelon will decide early next year whether to shut down these five plants for economic reasons.”

In a last ditch effort to save its corporate behind, as reported by Nuclear Street on November 26, according to a company official at Quad Cities, the company “is seeking a pricing model that recognizes the societal benefits of nuclear power that reflects nuclear power’s pristine greenhouse gas emissions record and its influence on grid stabilization.”

In addition, the Bloomberg article reported:

“Entergy will permanently shut down Vermont Yankee at the end of the year, 17 years before its operating license expires, because of mounting costs while low gas prices depress electric rates. “

Bloomberg neglected to mention that VY will be going out after nearly 42 years of going on. Nor did it report the history of public protest that has accompanied this nuke plant’s troubled times. Multiple demonstrations have called for its permanent shut down through the years……….

One thing is for sure though. Vermont Yankee will be shut down for good before the year is out.

Will the Vermont Yankee story now become the reality that Allison MacFarlane, head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, laid out at a press conference last November 17?

The NRC,” MacFarlane, said, “is not geared up for decommissioning nuclear reactors, a task that will occupy much of its time in coming years.

“The industry instead has set itself up about 15 years ago to oversee more reactor construction, a revival that did not occur.

“The agency’s now facing the future that five years ago people envisioned.”………….http://obrag.org/?p=90246

December 20, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general