Nuclear evaporating “like dry ice on a hot day”

The nuclear industry’s “lingering death” was further accelerated this summer, and exacerbated in the past week by new and on-going shutdowns. Worldwide, nuclear energy represents just 13% of electricity.  In 2010, overall installed capacity of four categories of renewables - wind, solar, small hydro and biomass - exceeded nuclear. The trend continues and, in the US, just this past week, was demonstrably in effect.

At Calvert Cliffs, MD, on the Chesapeake Bay, a control rod fell into the reactor core. The accident prompted a shutdown of Unit 1, one of two reactors at the site where plans for a third reactor have stalled indefinitely.

At the troubled Palisades nuclear power plant in Covert, MI, the reactor was shut down on August 12 after a leak from a control rod drive mechanism inside the containment building. An earlier leak had kept the plant shut down for a month in the summer. In fact, the plant was leaking during a visit by then Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman, Gregory Jaczko, who was kept in the dark about the safety problem. Now, the NRC inspector general is investigating NRC Commissioner, William Ostendorff, who has tried to block an investigation into why Jaczko was not informed of the leak.

At the Millstone nuclear plant on the Long Island Sound in Connecticut, Unit 2 was shut down as water temperatures in the Sound soared above 75 degrees. Sound water was too hot to be efficiently used as coolant for the plant and hotter discharges could have harmed biota in the Sound. With the hottest July on record, this a trend that is likely to continue due to climate change, which is why nuclear and coal plants should be scrapped quickly in favor of renewable energy generation that does not require huge quantities of water.

Meanwhile, the Crystal River nuclear station in Florida, has been closed for three years and may never reopen.  The broken containment structure could cost between $1 billion and $2.5 billion to fix according to estimates. Costs could be borne by Duke Shareholders after the company merged with Crystal River owner, Progress Energy this summer, or by ratepayers under the state’s Construction Work In Progress law, according to differing reports. As the Tampa Bay Times wrote in an editorial: “Paying for all of that would be hard to stomach if the nuclear plant were working, but it is absurd for ratepayers to be forced to pay those bills to upgrade a plant that may never be fixed.”

Meanwhile, the Progress Energy-Duke merger could spell the end of the combined companies‘ nuclear expansion plans. As The Energy Collective stated: “It appears the nuclear renaissance is evaporating in the new utility's service area like a chunk of dry ice on a hot summer day.” Prior to the merger, Progress had delayed the start to 2025 of two proposed new Florida reactors in Levy County. Duke has also put off new reactor plans at the Harris site in North Carolina.

The two San Onofre reactor units remain shut near San Diego, due to steam generator flaws and malfunctions. A high-ranking official at the California Public Utilities Commission has called for the reactors to be taken off the customer rate base since the plant is not contributing electricity.

And the Ft. Calhoun, NE reactor (pictured) has never been reopened since flooding devastated the site when the Missouri River crested and surrounded the plant in the summer of 2011, turning it into an atomic island. Miles of electrical cable that should never get wet were inundated during the flood, prompting serious safety questions, particularly for plant workers. Ft. Calhoun owners received a “red warning”, ostensibly because workers ignored the smell of smoke for days even though an electrical fire had broken out. Deficiencies in flood planning had been known about - but left uncorrected - a year before last summer’s inundation. The plant was shut down for refueling when the flooding occurred but federal regulators are not confirming any re-start date after these numerous additional flaws were uncovered.