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Post by clarencebunsen on May 13, 2013 19:36:15 GMT -5
Indian Point To Become First Nuclear Plant To Operate With Expired LicenseTARRYTOWN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) — One of two reactors at the Indian Point nuclear plant north of New York City will soon be operating with an expired license. Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials said Monday that the situation resulted in part from a complicated license-renewal process for nuclear reactors, the Journal News reported.
Indian Point 2′s 40-year license expires on Sept. 28. NRC regional administrator Bill Dean said that’s at least a year before any decision will be made on whether to extend it for another 20 years.
Dean said the reactor can keep operating because Entergy Nuclear, its owner, filed for renewal more than five years before the expiration date. newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/05/13/indian-point-to-become-first-nuclear-plant-to-operate-with-expired-license/
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2013 13:45:16 GMT -5
Nuclear plant closures show industry’s struggles
BY RAY HENRY AND MICHAEL R. BLOOD
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — The decision to close California’s San Onofre nuclear plant is the latest setback for an industry that seemed poised for growth not long ago.
In Wisconsin, a utility shuttered its plant last month after it couldn’t find a buyer. In Florida — and now California — utilities decided it was cheaper to close plants rather than spend big money fixing them and risk the uncertainty of safety reviews.
Meanwhile, the low cost of natural gas is discouraging utilities from spending billions of dollars and lots of time to build nuclear reactors.
New technology allows drillers to extract more gas within the U.S., increasing the supply and pushing down prices. In states were utilities operate as monopolies, they are reluctant to ask their regulators for permission to build enormously expensive nuclear plants — or even fix old ones — when it so cheap to build gas-fired plants.
In places where utilities sell power into the open market, the low prices don’t offset the financial risk of building expensive and time-consuming nuclear plants.
“The world has changed with natural gas prices being so low and so much gas being available for so long,” said Mike Haggarty, a senior utility analyst for Moody’s Investor Service.
Industry supporters acknowledge the challenging economics but say nuclear power still has long-term possibilities. While the costs to build plants are enormous, once online, the fuel and operating costs are relatively low. And reactors can reliably produce power with little or no carbon emissions, said Steve Kerekes, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry lobbying group.
Plants fired by gas cost much more to run when prices surge.
“When gas prices are low, that’s great,” Kerekes said. “But a lot of people don’t like to put all their energy eggs in one basket.”
On Friday, Southern California Edison announced it would close its San Onofre plant between San Diego and Los Angeles rather than fix damaged equipment that critics said could never be safely replaced. The twin reactors were idled in January 2012 when a small radiation leak led to the discovery of unusual damage to hundreds of new tubes that carry radioactive water.
uticaod e-edition
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Post by dave on Jun 11, 2013 15:53:12 GMT -5
Let's not kid ourselves. A 40 year license? For a technology that is laced with problems sewn by money people who are trying to maximize profits and minimize bad publicity? That by itself should tell us something about a lack of prudence.
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