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Analysis Shows U.S. Nuclear Plants Losing $2.9 Billion Annually

June 17, 2017

Increased use of less-expensive natural gas and renewable sources of energy for power generation is putting financial pressure on U.S. nuclear power plants, according to an analysis of electricity costs from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).

Nicholas Steckler, an analyst for BNEF, in a June 14 report said nuclear operators are losing about $ 2.9 billion a year. Steckler said nuclear plants are being paid $ 20/MWh to $ 30/MWh for their electricity, while their generation costs an average of $ 35/MWh.

The report says 34 of 61 U.S. nuclear plants are in the red. Steckler specifically cited merchant nuclear plants owned by FirstEnergy Corp., Entergy Corp., and Exelon.

In a statement, Entergy said it would not comment on individual plants but said “financial challenges due to sustained wholesale power price declines and unfavorable market conditions” are affecting the profitability of its nuclear operations. The company said it is now concentrating on its regulated utility business. Entergy, along with its wholesale commodities division, owns seven U.S.…

Chinese Reactor Is Ahead of Schedule as U.S. Nuclear Projects Flounder

May 28, 2017

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China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) completed the dome lift at Fuqing Unit 5—the world’s first power plant being constructed utilizing the HPR 1000 (also known as the Hualong One) reactor design—15 days ahead of schedule on May 25.

The feat was no small accomplishment. The dome weighs about 340 metric tons and has a diameter of 46.8 meters (more than half the length of a U.S. football field). It was said to be the world’s largest and highest dome lift ever undertaken at a nuclear construction site (Figure 1). The dome—composed of 153 prefabricated components divided into five layers—ensures the integrity of the unit’s reactor building.

1. Up, up, and away. The hemispheroid dome was lifted into place on Fuqing Unit 5’s reactor building on May 25. Courtesy: CNNC

“That the dome was lifted 15 days in advance proves that CNNC can construct the HPR 1000 which is a national key project in the field of nuclear power,” Wang Shoujun, chairman of CNNC, said in a press release.…

U.S. Nuclear: From Hope to Despair

March 30, 2017

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A decade ago, the annual Platts nuclear energy conference in Washington was brimming with optimism over a coming “nuclear renaissance,” as licensing requests poured into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and companies announced ambitious plans for new nuclear construction. Ten years later, the not-so-under-the-surface theme of the conference was nuclear survival.

“The question is survival,” former Entergy nuclear executive Bill Mohl told attendees at the annual Platts nuclear energy conference in Washington, D.C., in early February. Mohl, who led Entergy’s merchant power business and retired February 28, went on to explain that Entergy’s long-term strategy of buying up single-unit nuclear plants at bargain-basement prices and bidding them into the regional transmission operator (RTO) and independent system operator (ISO) competitive wholesale markets was a miserable failure.

It seemed like a really good idea at the outset, but a combination of factors undercut the strategy, and Entergy is now exiting merchant nuclear power in as big a way as it entered. Vermont Yankee is shuttered.…

17 U.S. Nuclear Units Have Components Forged at Site Under Investigation

January 12, 2017

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Although AREVA recently disclosed that 17 U.S. nuclear power plant units have installed components that were forged at the Le Creusot facility in France—a forge that has been under scrutiny due to questionable quality assurance documentation and carbon segregation irregularities in some parts manufactured at the site—the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) does not consider the situation an immediate safety concern.

“We are confident at this time that there are no safety concerns for U.S. nuclear power plants raised by the investigations in France,” David McIntyre, public affairs officer for the NRC, wrote in a blog post about the revelation.

“Our confidence is based on the U.S. material qualification process, preliminary structural evaluations of reactor components under scrutiny in France, U.S. material aging-management programs, our participation in a multinational inspection of Creusot Forge, and information supplied by AREVA about the documentation anomalies. Also, the components supplied to U.S. plants have performed well and inspections during their operating life have revealed no safety issues,” he continued.…

U.S. LNG Exports Surge in 2016—But Not Where They Were Expected

January 6, 2017

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The U.S. took a big step toward becoming a major exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2016 as Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass export terminal in Louisiana came online early last year and upgrades to the Panama Canal that opened in June made shipments to the Pacific region considerably easier. Data from the Department of Energy (DOE) through December 2016 show the U.S. exported 109 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of LNG through December 16, an average of about 0.3 Bcf/d for the year as a whole.

But the predominant destinations were not what most experts had predicted. Despite signs that U.S. LNG would seek out high-priced markets in east Asia and lower-priced-but-still-attractive markets in Europe, the majority of exports went somewhere else entirely: Latin America.

DOE data show that only two shipments went to Europe (one to Spain and the other to Portugal) while only a single one went to China, for a total of just 9.7 Bcf. Four shipments went to India, totaling 13.8 Bcf.…

U.S. Electric Markets in Transition

January 2, 2017

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The U.S. market for electricity is trifurcated. More than half the country is served by competitive generators bidding against each other in wholesale markets. Almost half is served by conventional state-regulated, vertically integrated utilities controlling generation and transmission. The rest, a much smaller portion, consists of government-owned and customer-owned utilities, some of which are generators and most of which serve retail customers. All categories are in transition.

In October 2016, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) offered Akron-based FirstEnergy a five-year, $ 600 million subsidy to be paid by the utility’s customers. The move was designed to compensate for the investor-owned utility’s (IOU’s) large, baseload coal and nuclear plants’ inability to compete in the PJM competitive wholesale market against low-cost natural gas.

Consumer groups slammed the PUCO order as “corporate welfare.” Tony Addison of AARP said the PUCO decision means that “Ohioans should subsidize the failing business model of FirstEnergy.” This, Addison said, “creates a terrible precedent by PUCO and others to bailout companies threatening to leave the state, on the backs of the people that work hard and pay their bills every month.”…