Another one bites the dust: Duke to cancel proposed new atomic reactors at Levy County, FL

MAURICE RIVENBARK | Times The crippled nuclear power plant in Crystal River [photo, above] will not be replaced with a new nuclear facility in Levy County, state Rep. Mike Fasano said Thursday.---Tampa Bay TimesAs reported by the Tampa Bay Times, Florida State Representative Mike Fasano (R-New Port Richey) has stated: "It's my understanding from a very good source that Duke Energy will announce after the close of the markets today that they will not be building the nuclear power plants in Levy County."

The article reports: 'Duke spokesman Sterling Ivey told the Tampa Bay Times the utility is issuing a press release about an announcement at 4:15 this afternoon.'

The proposed new nuclear power plant was supposed to have cost $4-6 billion, and to have been completed by 2016, when first proposed by Progress Energy in 2006. Recently, the price tag had risen to nearly $25 billion, and the estimated completion date had been delayed to 2024.

Florida's controversial "Construction Work in Progress" (CWIP) law, also known as the "advance fee law," has allowed Progress, and then Duke (which took over Progress) to charge ratepayers on their electricity bills for the construction of Levy County nuclear power plant. After intially supporting nuclear CWIP, Fasano has become an outspoken national opponent of the scheme. Even the Florida Tea Party has joined the chorus, including AARP and municipalities, in opposing risky CWIP subsidies to the nuclear industry at the expense of ratepayers.

In addition to Levy County, Progress/Duke has been able to charge ratepayers for senseless repairs and supposed upgrades at its doomed old atomic reactor, Crystal River. The nuclear utility managed to fatally crack Crystal River's containment in 2009, during a botched steam generator replacement, and earlier this year announced its permanent shutdown.

The Tampa Bay Times reports that Florida ratepayers could be on the hook for $3 billion in wasted expenditures at Levy County and Crystal River, collected via CWIP.

The article concludes:

'"Shame on Duke Energy, Progress Energy for taking the public on this ride knowing that they were never going to build the nuclear plants,'' Fasano said. "Shame on them."

Fasano called for the state Public Service Commission and the Legislature to conduct a full investigation into Duke's failed nuclear projects.'

Update on August 1, 2013 by admin

Duke Nuclear suffered another blow this week, E&E reported today in an article entitled "Budget cuts, workload delay decision on S.C. reactors." The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced that federal budget cuts, its post-Fukushima workload, and Duke's decision to move the location of the two proposed new William Lee atomic reactors had led to the postponement of a licensing decision by three years, to April 2016.

Callaway atomic reactor remains closed following fire in central MO

NRC file photo of Callaway atomic reactorAs reported by KMOV TV-4 St. Louis, Ameren's Callaway atomic reactor, located in Fulton, Missouri, 90 miles west and upwind of St. Louis, remains shutdown, following a fire. Beyond Nuclear board member Kay Drey, a longtime watchdog on Callaway, was interviewed. She pointed out that design, construction, and operational errors have all occurred at Callaway, and that, while fires do happen, you sure don't want them to happen at atomic reactors.

KMOV then questioned Ameren's characterization of the fire as an "ununsual event," pointing out that a number of "unusual events" have occurred at Callaway in the past decade. For example, last April, three workers were burned by an electrical flash in the switchyard.

Kay has penned numerous pamphlets, including one written for nuclear workers' ("Know Your Risks, Know Your Rights"), as well as one ("Routine Radioactive Releases from Nuclear Power Plants") containing a close-up photo of the rooftop vent at Callaway for the unfiltered atmospheric discharge of radioactive gases such as tritium, as well as noble gases krypton and xenon (which radioactively decay into long-lasting, biologically active isotopes of strontium and cesium).

As covered by regional and even national media, Kay has also been actively concerned, as are many others, about a "nuclear fire" of a different kind: an underground landfill fire, inching ever closer to a decades-old radioactive waste dump at West Lake Landfill, just upstream from St. Louis drinking water intakes. The crisis continues to garner headlines on a regular basis, as government officials at all levels, under pressure from area residents, struggle with what to do on this, the 40 year mark of radioactive waste first being buried there. Kay has long led efforts to have the radioactive wastes removed from the Missouri River floodplain.

State of Vermont objects to NRC over faulty radiation monitoring equipment at Entergy's Vermont Yankee atomic reactor

As reported by the Vermont Digger, State of Vermont Department of Public Service officials have written the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), objecting to and demanding answers about the repeated malfunction of vital radiation monitors at the age-degraded, problem-plagued Entergy Vermont Yankee (VY) atomic reactor. VY is identical in design to Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4, a General Electric Mark I boiling water reactor.

Despite this, NRC rubberstamped a 20-year license extension at VY, the same month Fukushima's reactors melted down and exploded. It is unclear to the State of Vermont whether or not NRC even inspected the defective radiation monitoring equipment before rubberstamping the license extension. Entergy has announced it will replace the faulty equipment.

The article also mentioned previous age-related degradation accidents at VY, such as the infamous 2007 cooling tower collapse (photo above left); it also reported that VY's fair market value has declined 69% in the past year alone, calling into question its viability.

EDF seeks to end its U.S. nuclear misadventure

NRC file photo of Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant on the shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay in Lusby, MDAs reported by the Baltimore Sun, Exelon/Constellation Nuclear will pay Electricite de France (EDF) a $400 million "special dividend" payment, in exchange for severing partnerships at three U.S. nuclear power plants, totaling five reactors, including Calvert Cliffs Units 1 & 2 on the Chesapeake Bay in Lusby, Maryland (photo, left), and the Ginna and Nine Mile Point Unit 1 & 2 nuclear power plants on the Lake Ontario shore of Upstate, New York. EDF then has the option to sell its 49.99% stake in the nuclear power plants to Exelon between 2016-2022.

When Constellation abandoned the project, not wanting to risk its own skin in the game in exchange for a $7.5 billion federal nuclear loan guarantee offered by the Obama administration, EDF was left holding the bag as majority owner of the proposed new reactor, Calvert Cliffs Unit 3. But foreign ownership is illegal under the Atomic Energy Act, and no other American partner stepped up. The proposed new reactor was to have been a French Areva EPR (1,600 Megawatt-electric Evolutionary Power Reactor). Numerous additional proposed new EPRs have been indefinitely postponed or outright canceled across the U.S. and Canada.

As reported in the article, 'EDF Chief Financial Officer Thomas Piquemal said Tuesday that the deal represents what he hopes is "the last chapter of our U.S. adventure with Constellation," Bloomberg reported.

The Baltimore Business Journal also reported on this story.

As reported by Power Engineering International, EDF's CEO, Henri Proglio, speaking at a news conference in Paris, stated: "The circumstances for the development of nuclear in the US are not favorable at the moment. We are a major player in nuclear, but we are not obsessed by nuclear. Our development in the US will focus on renewable energy – that will be our vector of growth in the US.” (emphasis added)

Entergy Nuclear announces 800 job cuts nationwide

Map showing location of Entergy's "dirty dozen" atomic reactors across the U.S.In an article entitled "Vermont Yankee to cut about 30 jobs: Critics argue loss of work force could pose operation hazards," the Burlington Free Press reports that nationwide, Entergy will slash 800 jobs across its fleet of a "dirty dozen" atomic reactors.

The article quotes Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Associates, as to the safety risks associated with such workforce reductions:

' “Thirty is a big deal,” said Vermont Yankee critic Arnie Gundersen, a former nuclear engineer who lives in Burlington. “It’s like a car. As a car gets older it needs more repair, not less and here they are cutting mechanics.”

Gundersen, who served on a 2008 state oversight panel that looked at Vermont Yankee’s operations, said he thought that cutting 30 jobs would have to affect the safe operation of the plant. He noted that the panel concluded that Vermont Yankee was understaffed at that time after increasing output by 20 percent without adding staff.'

FoxBusiness has reported that Entergy Nuclear CEO, Leo Denault, has admitted to investors that "all options are on the table" regarding its non-utility, "merchant" reactors, such as Palisades in MI and its fleet in the Northeast, in deregulated, competitive electricity marketplaces. Last February, Denault admitted in a Reuters interview that needed safety repairs were a major financial challenge for Entergy's age-degraded reactor fleet.

Update on July 31, 2013 by admin

Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer, Fairewinds Associates, Inc.Vermont Public Radio also reported on this story, quoting Arnie Gundersen (photo, left), Chief Engineer of Fairewinds Associates, Inc., who disagreed with Entergy's conclusion that the workforce reductions would have no impact on the safety risks of operations:

But Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear engineer and Yankee critic, said the reductions will put more pressure on a workforce that is already under stress.

“These cuts are going to cut muscle, there is no doubt in my mind,” he said.

Gundersen chaired a state oversight panel that looked at issues confronting the plant. He said that a decade ago Yankee boosted its power production by 20 percent without adding additional workers. He said the oversight panel concluded five years ago that the plant was under-staffed.

“So I think it’s only gotten worse. The same number of people are carrying the same amount of work, and now there’s going to be 30 less of them,” he said. “At some point, somebody is going to break and miss something. And when you miss something at a nuclear plant that can be a real problem.”

Gundersen said Entergy may choose to close the plant rather than invest about $70 million over the next few years to replace aging equipment and to comply with modifications required as a result of the Fukushima nuclear accident.

The Kalamazoo Gazette has reported that about 30 job losses will occur at Palisades in Michigan as well, about 4% of the workforce there. Further reductions than even that are expected in the operations and engineering departments. Gundersen has previously expressed concern about safety risks at Palisades, as well, as in this Fairewinds Energy Education podcast interview with Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps.