Nukes: We Can Only Survive In Markets Controlled By Our Buddies?
I translate this into commom language. Fertel means teabagger government hating plants (nukes and other) can't compete in the free market and deregulated markets. They can only survive in the political market where the Republican government haters dominate the scene. Like in the Republican breakaway regions of our south. It is only in the regulated markets dominated by the Republicans, where these politicians can control the excessive electricity prices...they hose the ratepayers on expensive insider games that benefits the rich.
More US nuclear power units will shut permanently,
NEI's Fertel says
Washington (Platts)--26 Oct 2015 604
pm EDT/2204 GMTUS Nuclear plant operators are
likely to announce the permanent closure of additional reactors in the coming
months for economic reasons, Nuclear Energy Institute President and CEO Marvin
Fertel said Monday.
"I'm hoping very few" will be shut, but some are expected to, he said
on the sidelines of a news conference Monday.
Entergy announced earlier this month it will permanently close its 728-MW
Pilgrim station in Massachusetts sometime between 2017 and 2019, citing low
power prices. The company has said a decision on whether to shut its 849-MW
FitzPatrick plant in New York, also for economic reasons, will be announced by
the end of the month.
Exelon has said five of its reactors in Illinois are struggling economically
and a decision will be made next year about their future.We're closing very safe, well-operated plants because of
market dysfunctionalities," Fertel said during the news conference, which
was called to discuss the awarding of an operating license on October 22 by the
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to the Tennessee Valley Authority for its
1,150-MW Watts Bar-2 reactor in Spring City, Tennessee.
While TVA sets prices for its nuclear units, reactors in deregulated
electricity markets are struggling, Fertel said.
Electricity regulators have made adjustments to capacity markets in the PJM
Interconnection region that have increased revenue and helped recognize the
value of baseload generating units, helping nuclear operators there, Fertel
said. However, the nuclear plant operators still need increases in the prices
of power they receive, including through a more level playing field for
nuclear-generated power and other fuel sources, he said.
"Even so, we don't think some of this will happen fast enough to
potentially save some plants," Fertel said.
TVA does not expect any impact from low power prices to the viability of its
nuclear units because it operates the wholesale system and has a public power
model in the parts of seven states in which it operates, TVA CEO Bill Johnson
said during the news conference. However, he said retiring merchant reactors is
a mistake.
"It's a mistake for us to close these plants because of the way the
markets are designed," he said.
"It threatens transmission stability; it is the only mass source of
low-cost carbon-free power," Johnson said.
TVA's Watts Bar-2 will load nuclear fuel starting in several weeks and then
will start producing power at low levels before reaching full-power commercial
operations sometime in the first quarter of next year, Johnson said. He
declined to estimate how much power the new unit would generate in the coming
months.
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