Tuesday, October 13, 2015

FitzPatrick Has Much Worst Market Conditions Than Pilgrim???

Just think about it, events in the last few months are focusing a high intensity laser light at Entergy? Will their credibility stand up to the intense scrutiny?
"The Central New York wholesale market is "even more challenging'' than the New England market where Pilgrim is struggling, Entergy officials said." 
Owner of FitzPatrick nuclear plant to close Pilgrim plant near Boston

Entergy Corp. announced today that it will close Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Mass., no later than June 1, 2019, because of poor market conditions, reduced revenues and increased operational costs. 
The announcement increased the anxiety in Oswego County, where Entergy has said it will decide by the end of this month whether to close the FitzPatrick plant in Scriba.
Pilgrim is expected to lose between $10 million and $30 million in each of 2015, 2016 and 2017, Entergy said. 
The Massachusetts plant faces many of the same challenges that could lead Entergy to close FitzPatrick, notably low power prices driven by abundant natural gas. In addition, the Pilgrim facility faced the likelihood of costly safety-related improvements because of heightened oversight from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Entergy officials today said the improvements were likely to cost at least $45 million to $60 million. 
The Central New York wholesale market is "even more challenging'' than the New England market where Pilgrim is struggling, Entergy officials said. 
"FitzPatrick, like Pilgrim, is a marginal unit located in an even more challenging wholesale power market,'' Entergy said today. "We are considering whether to proceed with (FitzPatrick's) next scheduled refueling outage. That decision will be made around the end of this month.'' 
Oswego County officials are worried about the effect closing FitzPatrick would have on the local economy, where the nuclear plant likely generates about $500 million of activity per year, according to estimates from similar facilities. FitzPatrick's payroll of $74 million is one of the area's largest. 
Amid all the uncertainty, union employees at FitzPatrick will vote Wednesday on a new, multi-year contract proposal, said Ted Skerpon, president of Local 97 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. 
Skerpon would not provide details of the proposal, but said he does not believe the union contract is a key factor in Entergy's decision about the future of FitzPatrick.

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