Journal mdsolar's Journal: Is Indian Point Next to Close? 1
Nuclear power plants are retiring early all over the country and planned power uprates are being canceled. With the recent decision to close Vermont Yankee, it comes to five closed reactors and five canceled uprates.
Now Entergy, the troubled owner of Indian Point close to New York City, is issuing denials that it will close Indian Point just as it had until so recently issued denials that it would close Vermont Yankee.
A second law suit has been filed against Energy by security employees saying the Indian Point plant is vulnerable to attack. And with the checkered history of violations by Entergy on this score, it seems likely that the coverups described in the suit have been occurring as per usual. Vermont Yankee was on the list of the ten most likely to retire early constructed by analyst Mark Cooper (linked above).
- Palisades (Repair impending, local opposition)
- Ft. Calhoun (Outage, poor performance)
- Nine Mile Point (Site size saves it, existing contract))
- Fitzpatrick (High cost but offset by high market clearing price)
- Ginna (Single unit with negative margin, existing contract)
- Oyster Creek (Already set to retire early)
- Vt. Yankee (Tax and local opposition)
- Millstone (Tax reasons)
- Clinton (Selling into tough market)
- Indian Point (License extension, local opposition)
So is Indian Point. I'd guess that chances are better than nine to one that it will be next.
Options for the USA (Score:2)
SAFSTOR - maintained and monitored then dismantled. Trained personnel and security staff on site. Many years of mothballing with record keeping. Funds and license needs to be looked after vs "public funding" needed.
More at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/decommissioning.html [nrc.gov]
Also factor in the fault line and MACCS2 computer program.
http://energy.sandia.gov/wp/wp-content/gallery/uploads/MACCS2.pdf [sandia.gov]