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from the watch-out-for-the-three-eyed-fish dept.
Late last week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued its first new operating license in nearly two decades. It was issued to the Tennessee Valley Authority, which has finally completed the Watts Bar 2 reactor over 40 years after work was started on the site. The plant may begin generating electricity before the year is out.
Construction on the site was put on hiatus in 1985, but efforts to complete it were restarted in 2007. After work had restarted, the Fukushima disaster led to significant revisions of the safety regulations in the US; Watts Bar 2 becomes the first plant to meet all these requirements. Its license is good for 40 years.
According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the total cost for completion was $6 billion.
The NRC's announcement is here. [PDF]
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday October 27 2015, @06:40PM
Well, to be more accurate, estimated decommissioning costs. But one needs to remember that in every case so far the actual decommissioning costs have been drastically underestimated. (That said, I've got to admit that there aren't a large number of actually decommissioned nuclear plants...though there are some that should have been and haven't been.) So the sample size is really too small to evaluate. But IIRC in every single case the decommissioning costs have vastly exceeded the monies set aside for that purpose. Also, there is still no approved disposal site for nuclear waste. (I think it should be reprocessed and reused, but that might cost more than the return. But if so I think it should be included in the decommissioning cost.)
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