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Germany Must Pay Nuclear Firms Compensation for 2011 Shutdown

December 6, 2016

Germany’s highest court ruled on November 6 that energy firms E.ON, RWE, and Vattenfall have a right to seek compensation as a result of the 2011 decision to prematurely shut down the country’s nuclear fleet.

The Merkel government’s order in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, in which three Japanese reactors melted down as a result of damage from a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami, was deeply controversial and continues to reverberate across Germany’s energy landscape. Eight of the nation’s oldest 17 nuclear reactors were shut down immediately, with the others slated for retirement by 2022 (Figure).

E.ON’s Grohnde nuclear plant in Lower Saxony is one of the best-performing units in Germany’s fleet. It is slated to retire by 2022. Courtesy: Heinz-Josef Lücking/Wikimedia

Abrupt Turnaround

The German Constitutional Court said the order itself was legal, but because it impacted the companies’ property rights in their plants, the government was obligated to pay compensation. Part of the decision was based on agreements the government had reached with the firms a few months earlier to extend lifetimes for the reactors well beyond 2021.…

Exelon Gets Its Christmas Wish—Illinois Legislation Will Save Nuclear Plants

December 4, 2016

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After a lengthy process of give and take, the Illinois Legislature approved the Future Energy Jobs Bill (SB 2814) on December 1, the last day of the state’s veto session.

The bill will now go to Gov. Rauner (R) for his signature, which is expected. Once signed, it will take effect on June 1, 2017, a concession that was made to reduce the number of votes required for passage. Even with the change, the bill passed with only three votes to spare in the House and two extra votes in the Senate.

Nuclear Plants Rescued

Exelon predictably praised the bill. The power company claims SB 2814 will maintain competitive electric rates in Illinois, while preserving and creating good-paying jobs and spurring billions of dollars in investment in clean energy and energy efficiency.

But those items weren’t quite what Exelon was fighting for in its effort to push the bill through the General Assembly. It was desperate for the $ 235 million the bill will allow it to collect from customers annually to keep its Clinton and Quad Cities nuclear power plants open.…

Paducah Laser Nuclear Enrichment Facility Gets Fuel but Not Formal Construction Decision

November 12, 2016

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While GE-Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment (GLE) confirmed it hasn’t made a formal decision to proceed with licensing or construction of a laser enrichment facility at Paducah, Ky., the Department of Energy (DOE) announced it has agreed to sell depleted uranium to the company over a 40-year period to help produce nuclear power plant fuel.

The DOE said that GLE would finance, construct, own, and operate the Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility proposed for a site near the DOE’s Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in western Kentucky. The commercial facility is expected to use, under a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) license, depleted uranium to produce natural uranium, which will then be used for production of fuel for U.S. civil nuclear reactors. The agreement provides for the sale of about 300,000 metric tons of DOE-owned high-assay uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) inventories for re-enrichment using proprietary SILEX technology to produce natural-grade uranium.

Yet, as a GE Power spokesperson told POWER on November 11, GLE “has made no formal decision to proceed with licensing or construction of the facility.”…

GE-Hitachi and Southern Nuclear to Pair on Fast Reactor Design Advancement

November 6, 2016

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GE-HItachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and Southern Nuclear Energy will collaborate to study the development and licensing of GEH’s PRISM sodium-cooled fast reactor design.

Southern Nuclear Development, a subsidiary of Southern Co. company Southern Nuclear Operating Co. signed a memorandum of understanding to study the high-energy neutron reactor design, as well as to work together toward participating in future U.S. Department of Energy advanced reactor licensing projects.

The companies said in a joint press release on October 31 that the PRISM design has benefited from the operating experience of EBR-II. Developed under the U.S. Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) program, the EBR-II was a 62-MWe prototype that began operations in 1961 at a Argonne National Laboratory site in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and operated for more than 30 years. The prototype was used for testing materials and design concepts and later used to generate power for other site facilities.

The reactor was shut down in 1994. In mid-2015, crews completed work to entomb the reactor, removing and treating the last of the sodium coolant from the reactor’s nine heat exchangers.…

France’s Nuclear Storm: Many Power Plants Down Due to Quality Concerns

November 2, 2016

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[Note: This article will appear in the forthcoming December 2016 print issue of POWER.]

The discovery of widespread carbon segregation problems in critical nuclear plant components has crippled the French power industry—20 of the country’s 58 reactors are currently offline and under heavy scrutiny. France’s nuclear safety chairman said more anomalies “will likely be found,” as the extent of the contagion is still being uncovered.

With over half of France’s 58 reactors possibly affected by “carbon segregation,” the nation’s nuclear watchdog, the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN) has ordered that preventative measures be taken immediately to ensure public safety. As this story goes into production in late October, ASN has confirmed that 20 reactors are currently offline and potentially more will shut down in coming weeks.

The massive outages are draining power from all over Europe. Worse, new questions continue to swirl about both the safety and integrity of Électricité de France SA’s (EDF’s) nuclear fleet, as well as the quality of some French- and Japanese-made components that EDF is using in various high-profile nuclear projects around the world.…

Generators Sue to Block Lifeline for New York Nuclear Plants

October 21, 2016

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A group of generators including Dynegy and NRG Energy filed suit in federal court on October 19 seeking to block an incentive program that would help three New York nuclear power plants remain economic over the next decade.

An August decision by the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) approving New York’s Clean Energy Standard included a provision requiring the state’s investor-owned utilities and other energy suppliers to pay for the intrinsic value of carbon-free emissions from nuclear power plants by purchasing “Zero-Emission Credits” (ZEC). Those credits are added to the wholesale price each plant receives for its power, and the costs are passed on to ratepayers.

Subsidies for New York Nuclear Plants Unlawful, Suit Says

The plaintiffs argue that the plan interferes with wholesale power prices in violation of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) authority over interstate power sales. In particular, they point to a case the U.S. Supreme Court decided earlier this year, Hughes v. Talen Energy Marketing, which struck down a subsidy program in Maryland on the same grounds.…