nuclear-news

Insurance companies watching as USA Nuclear company seeks to extend life of reactors to 80 years

Aging U.S. Nuclear Plants Pushing Limits of Life Expectancy, Insurance Journal By Jonathan N. Crawford | November 29, 2015 The U.S. is set to become the first nation to decide whether it’s safe to operate nuclear power plants for 80 years, twice as long as initially allowed.

The majority of the nation’s 99 reactors have already received 20-year extensions to their original 40-year operating licenses. Now, operators led by Dominion Resources Inc. want to expand the time frame further, potentially creating a precedent for an aging global fleet at a time when the economics of the industry are undergoing dramatic change.

Dominion said earlier this month it will request an extension from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees the industry. The plan has already raised the ire of anti-nuclear campaigners who cite decades of wear and tear on the nation’s reactors, as well as the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan.

The NRC will release a draft report next month outlining safety measures needed to extend the time line.

“The reality of life is the risks go up” as plants age, said Dave Lochbaum, director of the nuclear safety project at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Cambridge, Massachusetts- based advocacy group. “If you don’t respond with more aggressive risk management, then you’re inviting disaster.”

An approval may determine the fate of the world’s oldest nuclear fleet, one that’s being battered by high operating costs, expensive safety upgrades and an abundance of cheap natural gas that’s squeezing profits. If allowed, Dominion’s Surry plant in Virginia would be the first to outlive the average human being in the U.S. with a lifespan of 78.8 years. A final decision won’t come before the early part of the next decade.

Nuclear Retirements

“We are at the forefront,” Tina Taylor, a director at the Electric Power Research Institute Inc., said Nov. 19. “As we demonstrate extending the licenses of plants and continue operating them, it sets a model for how people will do that around the world.”

Corrosion, Leaks

“There are a number of safety issues with pushing these technologies twice beyond their original projected life span,” Tyson Slocum, Washington-based director of energy at Public Citizen, said by phone on Nov. 18. “You’ve seen a number of issues from Davis-Besse to Vermont Yankee where aging components triggered a variety of leaks.”…….http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2015/11/29/390222.htm

December 2, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general