PowerDC call to join them Fri., June 17 to show D.C. PSC opposition continues against Exelon Nuclear takeover of Pepco

This just in from the PowerDC coalition, opposed to Exelon Nuclear's takeover of the Mid-Atlantic utility Pepco:

Make your voice heard. Join us at the Public Service Commission building tomorrow at 3 p.m.

Tomorrow the D.C. Public Service Commission (PSC) will announce whether it will uphold its shocking approval of Exelon’s bid to takeover Pepco.

PowerDC coalition members, along with the, D.C. Office of the People's Counsel, and the D.C. Attorney General have asked the PSC to reconsider its decision. This request comes as a result of the PSC's decision to approve the merger based on flawed procedural grounds.

Let us know if you can attend the PSC's hearing (1325 G Street, NW #800) tomorrow at 3 p.m.

Thank you,
PowerDC

The commission and the media think the public has accepted defeat and moved on. We have an opportunity to show them that we are still engaged, outraged, and prepared to continue this fight. Join us!

Closure of OPPD’s Fort Calhoun plant looks likely; cost to generate electricity is double U.S. average

As reported by Cole Epley in the Omaha World-Herald, it appears a solid majority on the board of directors on the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), owner of the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant on the Missouri River in Nebraska, are ready to back OPPD management's recommendation that the problem-plagued atomic reactor be permanently closed.

As reported:

Said four-year board member Tom Barrett: “When you look at it from either the future of energy or the price of energy, the economics kill it. My vote is going to be to shut it down.” (emphasis added)

The article also reports:

[W]ind energy will make up nearly all of the replacement power in the wake of the nuclear plant’s expected closure.

David Kraft of Nuclear Energy Information Service in Chicago renamed Fort Calhoun as "Port" Calhoun, in the wake of historic flooding on the Missouri River in 2011 (see photo, above left).

The atomic reactor narrowly dodged disaster due to the flooding. Fortunately, upstream dams held. If one or more had breached, Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer of Fairewinds Associates, Inc., warned an "inland tsunami" could have caused disaster at Fort Calhoun. (Although OPPD had wisely shut down the reactor to ride out the flooding before it began, the high-level radioactive waste storage pool was nonetheless vulnerable to catastrophe, if its cooling were disrupted.)

A simultaneous electrical fire -- allowed to smolder for days -- landed "Port Calhoun" on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) "Red Finding" degraded performance category of worst reactors in the country. In the past several years, this has cost OPPD ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars, as OPPD has struggled to get off NRC's bad list. Apparently that investment has been wasted, as "Port" Calhoun will now likely close by October 2016, after the OPPD board of directors votes to do so tomorrow.

Exelon to shut Nine Mile Point-1, Ginna reactors if New York fails to OK compensation plan

As reported by Jim Ostroff at Platts, Exelon Nuclear has threatened to close two of its three atomic reactors in upstate New York, on the Lake Ontario shore, unless the New York Public Service Commission approve massive bailouts to prop them up, at ratepayer expense.

Exelon has engaged in similar blackmailing and hostage taking, of its own workforce and host communities, in Illinois -- with recent announced closure dates for the Clinton atomic reactor (June 1, 2017) and its Quad Cities Units 1 and 2 (June 1, 2018), after the Illinois state legislature refused to bail them out, at ratepayer expense, for the third year in a row.

Exelon has extended its shutdown threats to Byron in Illinois, as well as Three Mile Island Unit 1 in Pennsylvania (Unit 2 melted down 37 years ago).

As David Kraft, director of Nuclear Energy Information Service of Chicago (Illinois' 35-year nuclear power watchdog) has said, "please do!" NEIS has been the only party -- not Exelon, nor the nuclear power industry's workers' own unions, such as the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) -- to call for "just transitions" for the workforce that would be displaced by reactor closures.

Similarly, Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) and the Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE) have strongly advocated for a just transition for upstate NY nuclear plant workers, as well as state funding to help nuclear plant host communities adjust from nuclear dependency, to the burgeoning, long overdue renewable energy economy that will replace it.

Bailout alert: PSEG quietly lobbying New Jersey for handouts to keep operating 2 nuclear plants in the state

As reported by NJ Spotlight, regarding the Salem Unit 1 and 2 atomic reactors in New Jersey near Wilmington, Delaware:

Public Service Enterprise Group officials have quietly begun lobbying administration and legislative officials about securing new financial incentives for the units -- given their ability produce power without contributing any emissions to global climate change. (emphasis added)

(That last claim is, of course, most debatable!)

Exelon Nuclear is minority owner of the Salem 1 & 2 atomic reactors. Exelon lobbyists have similarly demanded bailouts in IL, PA, and NY, in order to prop up its age-degraded, economically non-competitive atomic reactors.

(Thanks to Scott Stapf of the Hastings Group for the Tweet alerting us to this news article.)

Did Entergy just signal investors it's preparing to close Indian Point in NY and Palisades in MI?!

Tim Judson, Executive Director of Nuclear Information and Resource Service, sent the following note out re: an E&E article:

Entergy is sending signals to the investment community that it may be preparing to phase out its merchant nuclear business. When pressed on what that really means – particularly for Indian Point [in New York] – they muttered the same, increasingly hollow, talking points about relicensing, reliability, emissions, etc. But the suggestion from the analysts in the audience that negotiating a deal to close Indian Point should be on the table. That would imply closing Palisades [in Michigan], too.