In what many of the members described as the hardest decision of their tenures, the Omaha Public Power District’s (OPPD) Board of Directors unanimously agreed on Thursday to close the Fort Calhoun Station by December 2016. OPPD now faces a $1.2 billion decommissioning project at the Blair, Neb., nuclear power plant, which began operating in 1973.
“This is simply an economic decision, and the economics are going so fast the other way that we can’t seem to justify (operating the plant) anymore,” Treasurer John Green said during the eight-member board’s meeting on Thursday in downtown Omaha.
With the plant’s closure comes uncertainty for about 700 workers. A few of them spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting, including 11-year employee Nick Schenks, who lamented the loss of a renewable energy source and the impact on employees’ families.
“Please show them some class,” he said. “Many employees are watching this at work and many of their families are watching it online. They don’t deserve to be mocked while you congratulate yourselves and claim some sort of victory.”
Vice Chair Tim Gay said much of the decision was out of the board’s hands, citing uncontrollable market forces such as low natural gas prices that are driving nuclear power sources out of business, along with shortsighted energy policy, like the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which he said doesn’t address nuclear.
Gay and other board members described the closure as a tough but correct decision, while Director Michael J. Cavanaugh said it felt like “a death in the family.”
“Things are going to change, and it’s bleak,” Cavanaugh said, thanking present and former employees. “It’s a wake, but there’s also light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a positive change for OPPD, moving forward, and it opens up a lot of options for us.”
Chairman Michael Mines noted that OPPD’s 163,000 customers can expect rates to remain flat through 2021, though that is only a projection.
OPPD management, which submitted the recommendation the board approved Thursday, has suggested SAFSTOR decommissioning at Fort Calhoun, which allows a plant to sit dormant for 60 years or until its trust fund accrues enough interest to cover the cost of decommissioning. As of May 2016, the plant’s decommissioning trust fund had accrued about $390 million. Projections show SAFSTOR lasting through 2066, when OPPD assumes the Department of Energy will take title to the spent fuel.
A member of the public asked the board if there was any consideration of selling the plant to Exelon, which has managed the plant since 2012. OPPD President and CEO Tim Burke said that is not a possibility, as Fort Calhoun would face the same “economies of scale” issue under any owner. He pointed out that Exelon recently decided to close its Quad Cities and Clinton nuclear plants in Illinois, after the state General Assembly failed to pass energy legislation the power provider was pushing for.
Burke also responded to the question of whether OPPD has considered converting the plant to natural gas. While OPPD is exploring that option, he said, it’s unlikely given the site’s lack of natural gas capacity.
