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Peach Bottom nuclear station can struggle on for 80 years!

It’s getting a bit tiresome – this endless, mindless repetition of   “carbon-free” “clean energy” “zero-carbon” nuclear energy. Why don’t Larry Pearl and other writers, who otherwise provide thorough and well-researched information – why don’t they do their homework on the full carbon emissions of the entire nuclear fuel chain?  Even the reactors themselves release a tiny an mount of Carbon 14. There is not only the chain of construction and demolition, but also the continuing fuel chain of mining through to radioactive waste disposal.  

Exelon’s Peach Bottom becomes second US nuclear plant to get license approval to 80 years,  Utility Dive , By Larry Pearl  March 9, 2020 

Dive Brief:

  • Exelon’s Peach Bottom plant became the second nuclear power reactor in the U.S. to get permission to operate out to 80 years, after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved another 20-year extension on Friday.
  • Last December, Florida Power & Light’s Turkey Point units 3 and 4 got the first such approval as utilities work to retain a major source of carbon-free [?] as long as possible.
  • Dominion has applied for a similar license extension for its Surry nuclear plant and plans to request for at least two more, while Duke plans to do the same for all 11 of its nuclear plants, Bloomberg reported last month.

Dive Insight:

Peach Bottom Unit 2 in York County, Pennsylvania, is now licensed to operate through August 2053 and Unit 3 through July 2054. The approvals come as more and more states move to adopt aggressive clean energy goals and the nuclear industry looks to advance a new generation of reactors.

But the economics of the current generation of U.S. reactors remains challenging, especially for new plants, and the industry and a number of states have adopted programs to recognize the zero emission attributes of nuclear.

While Exelon Nuclear’s Chief Nuclear Officer Bryan Hanson called the license extension, “good news for the environment, our employees and the community,” he noted that “nuclear plants must remain financially viable to continue to operate. ….

But FERC’s move in December to effectively raise the price floor for subsidized resources attempting to bid into the PJM wholesale capacity market complicates state efforts to support nuclear plants in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

A variety of stakeholders have petitioned FERC to reconsider its decision.

The NRC’s decision to move forward with Peach Bottom’s license extension is also being challenged…. https://www.utilitydive.com/news/exelons-peach-bottom-becomes-second-us-nuclear-plant-to-get-license-approv/573690/

March 10, 2020 - Posted by | politics, USA

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