Did you catch "The Meltdown: Three Mile Island" on Netflix? TMI remains a danger and TMIA is working hard to ensure the safety of our communities and the surrounding areas. Learn more on this site and support our efforts. Join TMIA. To contact the TMIA office, call 717-233-7897.
According to the “World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2024,” the world had 408 operational reactors producing 367-GW in the middle of the year, which is significantly less than installed capacity predictions for solar by the end of the year and five time less the world’s cumulative PV capacity. There were around 1.6-TW of PV at the end of 2023 and possibly around 1.9-TW by the end of June, given recent projections from BloombergNEF and Bernreuter Researchers, which foresee 5920GW and 660-GW, respectively, this year.
A Three Mile Island nuclear reactor could restart under a new deal with Microsoft
Constellation Energy Corp. says it has signed a 20-year agreement with Microsoft under which the technology company will purchase power from Three Mile Island Unit 1.
Reactor operators Brian Bowers (left) and Bryan Bricking, in the control room of Three Mile Island reactor in 2017. TMI reactor 2 is still shut down after the partial nuclear meltdown accident in 1979. Reactor 1, this unit was shut down in 2019.Clem Murray / Staff Photographer
Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Corp. said Friday that it has signed a 20-year agreement with Microsoft under which the technology company will purchase power from Three Mile Island Unit 1. That reactor is located at an independent facility from Unit 2, which closed in 1979 after experiencing a partial meltdown.
Constellation said it would spend $1.6 billion to restart Unit 1 — and won’t seek “a penny in grant money” from the state or federal governments — which the company said “operated at industry-leading levels of safety and reliability for decades.” Federal regulators would need to approve a restart, though it already has support from Gov. Josh Shapiro. The company said it expects the reactor to come online by 2028.
“I think policymakers have recognized that a strategy that is dependent just on wind, solar, batteries isn’t going to fully get us there and meet the needs of the system from a reliability standpoint,” Joe Dominguez, Constellation’s president and CEO, said in an interview.
The Three Mile Island power plant complex in Middletown, Pa. Unit 2, on the left, infamously shut down in 1979 after an accident. Unit 1, on the right, was shut down in 2019.Clem Murray / Staff Photographer
For Microsoft, buying energy from the renewed plant, dubbed the Crane Clean Energy Center, will “help match the power its data centers in PJM use with carbon-free energy,” according to a news release. Valley Forge-based PJM Interconnection, a regional transmission organization, operates the electric grid in 13 states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
The plan to reopen Three Mile Island is likely to face some opposition from groups critical of the nuclear industry. “We will challenge this proposal at every venue that is available for us,” said Eric Epstein, a former chairman of Three Mile Island Alert, a nonprofit that says it promotes “safe-energy alternatives to nuclear power.”
“This is another chapter in a nightmare that won’t end,” he said.
Dominguez said multiple factors have contributed to a changing landscape for the nuclear industry since the Three Mile Island reactor closed five years ago. In addition to reliability questions with regard to wind and solar, he pointed to incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the pandemic. “We saw this effort … to bring in and onshore a lot of critical supply,” he said.
A study commissioned by the Pennsylvania State Building & Construction Trades Council — which supports the restart and represents more than 115 local unions — estimated that the project would create 3,400 jobs, including 600 direct jobs at the plant in Londonderry Township, south of Harrisburg.
The study projected that over 20 years, the Crane Clean Energy Center — named after the late Exelon CEO Chris Crane — would generate $3.6 billion in state and federal tax revenues and reduce carbon emissions by an average of 3 million metric tons per year, “offsetting about 10% of Pennsylvania’s passenger vehicle emissions.”
Thomas Webler, senior research fellow at the Social and Environmental Research Institute, challenged the projected offset of auto emissions in Pennsylvania because the restart won’t be powering electric vehicle chargers. Pennsylvania emitted 258 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the atmosphere in 2021, the most recent year for which data is available, according to state data.
Shapiro, a first-term Democrat, said in a statement that the facility “will safely utilize existing infrastructure to sustain and expand nuclear power in the commonwealth while creating thousands of energy jobs and strengthening Pennsylvania’s legacy as a national energy leader.”
Pennsylvania has five nuclear power plants, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. Constellation, which is publicly traded, owns Limerick Generating Station in Montgomery County and Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in York County.
Restarting Unit 1 would require approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and permits from state and local agencies, according to Constellation. The company said it also plans to seek a license renewal “that will extend plant operations to at least 2054.”
Dominguez, the CEO, said the plant remains in “pretty good condition,” though the company needed to replace the main transformer. Other tasks include ordering key components, hiring staff, and connecting the plant to PJM, he said.
Asked about potential safety concerns, Dominguez said TMI “will always be remembered by some people as the industry’s point of greatest failure in the United States.”
“But for those of us who worked and have worked in the industry for decades, Three Mile Island represents something very different,” he said. “It represents the place where we learned hard lessons and the birthplace of the resolve, the new processes, new equipment, new designs through construction activities that ultimately transformed the industry.”
Epstein, the antinuclear power activist, said the focus at the site should be on cleanup.
Ninety-nine percent of TMI 2 reactor’s fuel has been moved to Idaho since the 1979 accident. But officials say removing the last 1% of fuel is challenging. “First things first, remove the waste from the island, and clean up TMI 2,” Epstein said.
France's EDF investigates second automatic shutdown at Flamanville 3 reactor
By Alban Kacher and Benjamin Mallet September 17, 20249:08 PM GMT+8Updated 3 days ago
A general view of the three reactors making up the Flamanville nuclear power plant with the third-generation European Pressurised Water nuclear reactor (EPR) in the background in Flamanville, France, April 25, 2024. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
Sept 17 (Reuters) - French state-owned energy group EDF said on Tuesday its teams were shutting down the new Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor to carry out technical checks after the plant triggered an automatic halt for the second time this month.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Flamanville's new-generation EPR reactor is the first nuclear unit to be connected to the French grid since the Civaux 2 nuclear reactor in 1999. It is expected to produce about 1.6 gigawatts (GW) per hour, making it France's largest reactor.
KEY QUOTE
"The start-up of an EPR is a long and complex process, involving the commissioning of equipment for the first time. Other automatic shutdowns and contingencies are likely to be activated until the reactor reaches full power," an EDF spokesperson said in a statement.
CONTEXT
After 12 years of delays and setbacks, EDF started divergence operations - the first nuclear fission that allows electricity production to begin - on the Flamanville 3 nuclear plant about two weeks ago.
The reactor stopped automatically on Sept. 4, only a day after it entered production, due to human error during post-divergence tests.
The French power utility said on Sept. 7 it resumed activity and testing at the plant, in order to prepare for the connection procedure planned for late autumn.
WHAT’S NEXT
After identifying the technical details of the issue, EDF teams will carry out some more checks and adjustments before resuming start-up operations, the EDF spokesperson said.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy announced Tuesday that it is teaming up with yet another energy company as part of a mission to transform portions of government-owned property once used for the nation’s nuclear weapons program into prime real estate for renewable energy endeavors.
The federal agency will be negotiating a lease agreement with Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources Development for nearly 3 square miles (7.8 square kilometers) of land surrounding the nation’s only underground repository for nuclear waste.
The project at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southern New Mexico is the latest to be announced by the Energy Department, which has identified more than 50 square miles (130 square kilometers) of government land that can be used for constructing solar arrays and battery storage systems that can supply utilities with emissions-free electricity.
Andrew Mayock with the White House Council on Environmental Quality on Tuesday echoed a statement made earlier this year when the first negotiations were announced. He said federal agencies are using their scale and purchasing power to support the growth of the clean energy industry. “We will spur new clean electricity production, which is good for our climate, our economy, and our national security,” he said.
At the nuclear repository in New Mexico, federal officials say there is potential to install at least 150 megawatts of solar and another 100 megawatts of storage.
While the amount of energy generated by NextEra at the WIPP site would be more than enough to meet the needs of the repository, none would feed directly into government operations there. Officials said the energy from the solar array would be sold to Xcel Energy by NextEra and put into the utility’s distribution system.
Xcel serves customers in parts of New Mexico and Texas, as well as other states.
Officials said there is no estimate of when ground could be broken, saying engineering and planning work would be needed once a lease is signed and regulatory approvals would be required.
The largest of the so called cleanup-to-clean-energy projects is slated for the Hanford Site, where Hecate Energy LLC has plans to deliver a gigawatt-scale system that would span thousands of acres on the southeastern edge of the property. It could be several years before that project comes online.
Other lease agreements already are being negotiated for projects stretching from the Hanford Site in Washington state, where the U.S. produced plutonium, to national laboratories and other sites in Idaho, Nevada and South Carolina.
Palisades nuclear relaunch gets more subsidies in Michigan — and more backlash
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer joined former governor and current Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in March to announce a $1.5 billion federal loan to restart the shuttered Palisades nuclear power plant. It was one of several rounds of public subsidies for the restart effort. (Bridge photo by Kelly House)
The Palisades Nuclear power plant restart effort has secured another round of public subsidies, with two rural electric cooperatives set to receive hundreds of millions of dollars to buy power from the facility.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Thursday that Michigan-based Wolverine Power Cooperative and Indiana-based Hoosier Energy will each receive awards from the Empowering Rural America program, a $9.7 billion Inflation Reduction Act fund designed to help rural electric cooperatives transition to clean energy.
Spokespeople with the USDA Rural Development office refused to provide dollar amounts for the grants, but a Wolverine spokesperson said the company will receive more than $600 million.
Hoosier Energy officials did not immediately respond to an inquiry from Bridge Michigan about their grant.
That brings total public subsidies for the Palisades restart to more than $2.4 billion, including a $1.52 billion federal loan announced in March, and a $300 million commitment from the state of Michigan.
By offsetting the high prices that make nuclear energy an unappealing option for electric utilities, the latest subsidies clear a key barrier to restarting Palisades, which sits on the Lake Michigan shoreline in Van Buren County.
The plant closed in 2022 amid struggles to compete against cheaper energy sources. When Palisades was still operating, its power sometimes cost 57% more than competing sources.
Mothballing the facility eliminated hundreds of jobs and removed 800 megawatts from the grid overnight — enough to power 800,000 homes. That loss of reliable, emissions-free energy prompted bipartisan alarm among Michigan lawmakers, who mounted a public campaign to restart the plant.
Its owners, Holtec Energy, have since submitted restart applications to federal nuclear regulators, who say they plan to make a decision by mid-2025. Holtec officials hope to repower the plant by late 2025.
In a statement, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called the latest cash infusion “another critical step” toward that goal.
“We are showing the world that Michigan will continue to lead the future of clean energy,” Whitmer said.
But pushback from anti-nuclear activists is intensifying. They have filed several petitions in recent weeks raising concerns about the restart plan with the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Nobody has ever attempted to reopen a shuttered nuclear plant, and opponents argue it’s unwise to do so.
They point to a history of safety violations, the danger of storing nuclear waste along the Lake Michigan shoreline, and concerns about aging infrastructure in the 53-year-old plant.
A decade ago, Palisades made a federal list of plants with the most “high level” safety violations nationwide, though government officials today routinely praise the plant’s more recent safety record.
“This plant was dangerous for decades before it shut down,” said Kevin Kamps, a radioactive-waste specialist with the nonprofit Beyond Nuclear. “It's even become more dangerous since, because of that lack of active safety maintenance.”
While the regulatory process plays out, Holtec Energy may be in line for yet more money for Palisades.
The company is seeking a $7.4 billion federal loan to build small nuclear reactors at Palisades and possibly other properties. And in March, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told Bridge Michigan that the facility may qualify for additional tax incentives.
SUBJECT: Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Unit 1 – Authorized Alternative To Requirements Of The American Society Of Mechanical Engineers Boiler And Pressure Vessel Code (EPID L 2024 LLR 0028)
Re: Amended Testimony: Amazon Data Services, Inc. Project Facility: PHL100 Data Center Campus, Salem Township, Luzerne County, Pa. Application for consumptive use of up to 0.060 mgd (30-day average)
NRC Begins Special Inspection at South Texas Project Nuclear Power Plant
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun a special inspection at the South Texas Project nuclear power plant in response to two recent events there. The first occurred May 12 when a transformer that supplies offsite power to the station shut down unexpectedly, causing an unplanned shutdown of Unit 2. The second event occurred July 24 when a fire in an electrical switchyard at the site caused an unplanned shutdown of Unit 1.
During each event, there were unexpected safety equipment issues that the NRC will review. “While these events didn’t present a threat to public health and safety, we want to conduct a thorough review of the circumstances that led to these unplanned shutdowns,” said Region IV Administrator John Monninger. “We will review the company’s actions in response to these events and determine whether appropriate steps are being taken to address equipment issues.”
During both events, NRC resident inspectors, permanently stationed at the plant, independently monitored plant conditions, reviewed the company’s initial corrective actions, and monitored the plant’s restart several days later.
An inspection report will be issued about 45 days after the inspection is completed and will be available on the NRC website.
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