NextEra Energy Resources plans to shut down Iowa’s sole nuclear power reactor in 2020, the latest in a series of announced shutdowns of atomic energy plants around the nation.
The 615-megawatt Duane Arnold Energy Center boiling water reactor, about 10 miles outside of Cedar Rapids, has a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license to operate through 2034 and a contract to provide Alliant Energy Corp. with electricity through 2025. However, NextEra and Alliant announced in a joint news release Friday they intend to end the contract near the end of 2020.
Alliant wants to shift to four wind power facilities and other renewable sources for electricity, the release said. The Madison, Wisc., utility company expects to save $300 million over the next 21 years due to the planned shift. The Cedar Rapids Gazette quote Alliant as saying wind power expenses have dropped beneath nuclear power costs.
The companies said in their release the plant will begin a “multi-year decommissioning process” upon closure, but did not offer details on the approach to be used at Duane Arnold. They did not respond to requests for comment on Monday.
In the latest decommissioning funding status report for the plant, filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March 2017, there was a total of $444 million in the trust for Duane Arnold. Projected funds at shutdown were projected at over $738 million, though that was more than a year before the early closure announcement.
Alliant will pay $110 million in September 2020 to NextEra to end the contract early, the joint news release said. The two corporations submitted a request Friday for approval of that early closure agreement by the Iowa Utilities Board.
The Duane Arnold Energy Center went on online in 1975. NextEra owns 70 percent of plant. The Des Moines-based Central Iowa Power Cooperative owns 20 percent and the Humboldt-based Corn Belt Power Cooperative owns 10 percent.
