“It’s premature for the company to assure the public that there was no safety hazard at this point. This is a reactor vessel that has very high pressures pushing outward,” said NC WARN’s Jim Warren. Warren said the plant being shut down could cost Duke Energy $1 million a day. Warren believes Duke Energy will put the bill on its customers.
Nuclear Power
Since the early 1990s, NC WARN has watch-dogged the state’s nuclear power industry over its “low-level” and high-level waste practices, along with reactor safety and security issues.
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Crack forces shutdown of nuclear reactor at Shearon Harris — WRAL
“To have a crack in a reactor vessel head that went undetected for at least a year, that’s very troubling,” said Jim Warren, executive director of utility watchdog NC WARN, a frequent critic of Duke and Progress.
Duke suspends plans for Shearon Harris expansion — WRAL
Duke Energy notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Thursday that it is suspending its application to build new reactors at the Shearon Harris nuclear plant. NC WARN welcomed the announcement but scolded the utility for wasting millions of dollars that could have been spent on energy-saving programs. “The Shearon Harris failure perfectly typifies why the U.S. nuclear ‘renaissance’ is making global warming worse,” Executive Director Jim Warren said in a statement.
Demise of New Harris Nukes is an Important Public Victory toward a Clean Energy Revolution — News Release from NC WARN
Duke Energy’s cancellation yesterday of licensing efforts to build two nuclear reactors at subsidiary Progress Energy’s Harris nuclear plant is good news – but it comes with a taint. Duke-Progress threw away eight years and $70 million – while blocking widespread advances in energy-saving programs, solar and wind, and combined heat and power.
Duke Energy will ask customers to pay for canceled reactors — The News & Observer
When Progress Energy applied for a rate increase last fall, the request didn’t include $70 million the Raleigh electric utility had spent on a planned addition of two reactors at the Shearon Harris nuclear plant in Wake County. But Duke Energy, which acquired Progress last summer, plans to recover those costs and pass them on to customers, Duke CEO Jim Rogers told investors Friday. Rogers revealed the company’s intentions a day after Charlotte-based Duke announced it is canceling the Shearon Harris expansion.
Duke Energy shelves plans for new reactors at Shearon Harris — The News & Observer
After years of delays and postponements, Duke Energy issued an obituary for a pair of long-planned reactors at the Shearon Harris nuclear plant in Wake County. The Charlotte power company has canceled plans to add the new reactors to the site, where a single unit has been generating electricity for a quarter-century. Duke told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that sluggish growth forecasts show new nuclear units won’t be needed for at least 15 years.
Consumer Alliance Warns of a Doubling of Electricity Rates under Duke Energy’s Business Plan – News Release from Consumers Against Rate Hikes
Economists say a proposed “annual rate hike bill” to fund new nuclear plants would be aninterest-free loan to Duke from ratepayers – without saving any money.
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24 Groups: NRC Rushing Nuclear “Waste Confidence” Process, Not Satisfying Court-Ordered Requirements – News Release
In documents filed Wednesday with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), a wide range of national and grassroots environmental groups said it would be impossible for the NRC to adequately conduct a court-ordered assessment of the environmental implications of long-term storage of spent nuclear reactor fuel in the two short years the federal agency envisions for the process.
Nuclear construction project in free fall; Duke at risk too – News Release from NC WARN
The first US nuclear plant being built in a generation tumbles further into a perfect storm of cost overruns, delays, corporate bungling and an uncertain future, as documented last week by a career nuclear engineer monitoring the project for Georgia regulators.
Duke’s Report on Costly Repair of Florida Nuclear Plant Reinforces NC WARN’s Call to Reopen Merger Hearings – News Release from NC WARN
Tuesday’s revelation that repair of the broken Crystal River nuclear plant will cost up to $3.4 billion – far higher than Progress Energy had claimed during its merger with Duke Energy – comes as little surprise. The riveting question now for the NC Utilities Commission is: Did Duke know this before the merger closed on July 2, but withhold it because its impacts on NC ratepayers could derail the merger?
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