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US Nuke Plant to be Closed; Another Poised to Follow

posted by martyb on Monday October 19 2015, @08:34AM   
from the just-preparing-for-thorium-and-molten-salt-reactors? dept.

"gewg_" writes:

from the economic-realities dept.

Utility Dive reports

Entergy Corp. plans to shutter its 680 MW Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Mass. no later than June 1, 2019, the company said this week.

AP reports that financial factors drove Entergy to make the decision, including tough market conditions, reduced revenues, and increased operational costs. Entergy said it did not anticipate the economics of the plant to change in the near future, either through a rebound in power prices or a different market structure.

The exact timing of the closure will be decided next year, but the company has already informed the ISO New England that it intends to stop participating as a capacity resource.

CounterPunch continues

Entergy is also poised to shut the FitzPatrick reactor in New York. It promises an announcement by the end of this month.

Entergy also owns Indian Point 2 and Indian Point 3 some 40 miles north of Manhattan. Unit 2's operating license has long since lapsed. Unit 3's will expire in December.

[...] Meanwhile, like nearly all old American nukes, both Pilgrim and FitzPatrick are losing tons of money. Entergy admits to loss projections of $40 million/year or more at Pilgrim, with parallel numbers expected at FitzPatrick. The company blames falling gas and oil prices for the shortfalls.

[...] the boom in wind [and] solar, increased efficiency, and other Solartopian advances are at the real core of nuke power's escalating economic melt-down.

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Original Submission

• Good Good (Score: 1, Flamebait) by FatPhil on Monday October 19 2015, @10:24AM

  by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Monday October 19 2015, @10:24AM (#251759) Homepage

  Hopefully that will leave space for more forward looking companies and countries in europe or asia (or south america, or oceania) to lead the way when it comes to unshackling themselves from petrochemicals. When the US realise their mistake, then other countries will happily export tech to them, that's good for their balance of payments.
  
  Vaguely related: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W-0D6mPPlc

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  Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves

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• Re:Good Re:Good (Score: 3, Insightful) by Hairyfeet on Monday October 19 2015, @01:30PM

  by Hairyfeet (75) <reversethis-{moc ... {8691tsaebssab}> on Monday October 19 2015, @01:30PM (#251792) Journal

  Uhhh you DO realize they are being pushed out by coal and gas, yes? So you are actually supporting MORE crap being shoved into our environment because the so called "green" energy like wind and solar simply cannot give you 24/7 performance and ramp up with demand so they are just gonna keep right on burning because thanks to fracking and coal subsidies its cheaper to burn than to run a nuclear plant.

  --
  ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.

  Parent

  • Re:Good (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday October 19 2015, @08:12PM

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Monday October 19 2015, @08:12PM (#252002) Homepage

    Yes, I do realise that. And I realise that that is bad in the long term for the US. Which is why it's a good thing for everyone else who can possibly benefit later from selling energy-related technology to the US. The futher back you hold yourself, the better our competitive advantage. But as I say, the rest of the world's not exactly firing on all cylinders presently when it comes to moving energy technology forward.

    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves

    Parent