Karl Herchenroeder and Chris Schneidmiller
RW Monitor
11/20/2015
Despite reports that Entergy and New York state officials have been conducting last-minute talks to avoid closure of the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant, the energy company this week gave the Nuclear Regulatory Commission formal notice that the 40-year-old facility will shut down permanently.
In a mandatory notification issued Wednesday, Entergy Northern Fleet COO John Ventosa told the NRC the plant will cease operations at the end of the current fuel cycle. That is expected in late 2016 or early 2017. "A more specific date cannot be provided at this time in order to allow for fuel coastdown variables," Ventosa stated.
Ventosa cited the “continued deteriorating economics of the facility” as cause for the closure. In announcing the shutdown earlier this month, the company blamed the plant’s demise on low natural gas prices, increased operational expenses, and a poor market design that fails to compensate nuclear energy.
Entergy’s Nov. 2 announcement followed extended negotiations with the state that failed to reach a deal to keep the plant open. However, Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.) told local media that week that talks had resumed.
“Entergy and state officials worked very hard over the past two months to reach a constructive and mutually beneficial agreement to avoid a shutdown, but were unsuccessful. We will not discuss the timing of conversations,” Entergy spokeswoman Tammy Holden said by email on Thursday.
Having just received the notice, the NRC has not responded to Entergy, commission spokesman Neil Sheehan said. “[W]e plan to continue with our regular battery of inspections for an operating reactor until it permanently shuts down,” he said by email. “The next steps in terms of shutdown will be the company’s submittal of a certification that the fuel has been removed from the reactor for the last time. Entergy will also owe us a Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR) within two years after permanent cessation of operations.”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been highly critical of Entergy’s plans to close the Oswego County plant, which employs more than 600 workers. His office did not respond to requests for comment this week on any moves it might make to keep the facility open.
Holden said the timing of the decision to shut down FitzPatrick was partly driven by the need to decide whether to invest in new fuel for the next fuel cycle. “The company also must begin with substantial preparations that are needed for the decommissioning process and filing of appropriate information with the NRC,” she said.
Entergy as of Sept. 30 had over $728 million in its decommissioning trust fund for the FitzPatrick plant. That amount meets the NRC’s funding assurance requirements, the company has said. The NRC has said a preliminary estimate indicates it will cost roughly $1.1 billion to decommission the facility. Holden said the company would prepare an analysis on the FitzPatrick decommissioning, including a cost estimate, “at the appropriate time after the plant is shut down.”
Entergy closed its Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant at the end of 2014 and in October announced that its Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts would close by June 1, 2019. The closures will leave the company’s Entergy Wholesales Commodities division with two operating nuclear power generating facilities: the Palisades Power Plant in Michigan and the Indian Point Energy Center in New York. In a letter to the NRC this week, Cuomo’s office called on the agency to reject Entergy’s application for relicensing of the aging Indian Point plant.
