Crystal River plant repairs continue

subscribe

Repairs to the Crystal River nuclear plant will take longer than Progress Energy previously expected.

Instead of coming back online by midyear, the plant is expected to return to service in the third quarter, Progress Energy president and chief executive officer Bill Johnson said.

Progress Energy revised its estimate as it has gotten deeper into a job to repair a cracked wall in the plant's reactor building.

"We're really proceeding deliberately here according to a detailed plan," Johnson said during a conference call on the utility's first-quarter earnings.

Through the end of March, repairs had cost $25 million, with more work to come.

Executives said they expect insurance to cover much of the costs of repairs and replacement power needed while the nuclear plant is offline. The utility has other plants, some fired by natural gas, that it can bring online at times of peak demand.

Without going into detail, the company suggested it could seek a rate increase to recoup repair costs not covered by insurance.

So far, however, Progress Energy does not know what the total repair project will cost, it doesn't have a running tab on what replacement power has cost and can't say exactly how much insurance will pay, spokeswoman Wendy Horne said.

The company powered down the nuclear plant in September for a major maintenance project that was expected to be done by the end of December.

But shortly after the job began, workers discovered that part of the containment wall had separated into two layers.

The void was discovered as workers cut a 25- by 27-foot hole in the containment wall so two huge steam generators could be removed and replaced. The utility cut the hole because the reactor building's regular equipment hatch is too small for the generators, which weigh 550 tons each.

The gap is known as a delamination, which means part of the wall has separated into two layers. The gap between those two layers is up to 2 inches wide, and it lies about 9 inches below the outer surface of the wall, which is 42 inches thick.

The company's analysis of what caused the crack is still under way, but it has said it plans to replace the layer of concrete that separated from the building. Workers are in the latter stages of removing the outer layer.

Related News

New York Governor Kathy Hochul

Building begins on facility linking Canada hydropower to NYC

NEW YORK - New York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced the start of construction on the converter station of the Champlain Hudson Power Express transmission line, a project to bring electricity generated from Canadian hydropower to New York City.

The 340 mile (547 km) transmission line is a proposed underwater and underground high-voltage direct current power transmission line to deliver the power from Quebec, Canada, to Queens, New York City. The project is being developed by Montreal-based public utility Hydro-Quebec (QBEC.UL) and its U.S. partner Transmission Developers.

The converter station for the line will be the first-ever transformation of a fossil fuel…

READ MORE

Told "no" 37 times, this Indigenous-owned company brought electricity to James Bay anyway

READ MORE

nuclear

First Nuclear Reactors Built in 30 Years Take Shape at Georgia Power Plant

READ MORE

israel power plant

Will Israeli power supply competition bring cheaper electricity?

READ MORE

apartment lights

America’s Electricity is Safe From the Coronavirus—for Now

READ MORE