U.S.
Entergy has withdrawn its plan submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to permanently shut down its James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant – a potential signal the utility is confident of closing the sale of the facility to fellow power company Exelon.
The $110 million deal, which would allow the struggling plant to remain in operation, has received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Department of Justice, and the New York Public Service Commission. The NRC is conducting its own review.
Entergy on Jan. 4 filed the withdrawal notice, which was made public Tuesday. The utility had planned to close the site this month due to its ongoing financial difficulties, but struck the deal with Exelon in August. The two sides came to terms following the New York Public Service Commission’s (NYPSC) approval of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Clean Energy Standard. That program is projected to pay upstate nuclear power plant operators nearly $8 billion in energy subsidies over its lifetime; if the deal goes through, Exelon would own all three upstate nuclear plants.
FitzPatrick’s refueling outage is currently underway. Entergy spokeswoman Tammy Holden said by email Thursday that the outage is a “tangible accomplishment of the Entergy-Exelon agreement,” as it means FitzPatrick will remain in operation. Refueling outages typically last about a month.
“We are on track to support closure of the sale transaction in the second quarter of 2017,” she wrote.
The Energy Department has named Raymond Furstenau, a nearly 30-year DOE veteran, as acting assistant secretary and principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy, following the departure of John Kotek.
The office leads DOE efforts in establishing a strategy for managing the nation’s high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. Kotek, who accepted a position with the Nuclear Energy Institute earlier this month, led outreach for DOE’s consent-based siting effort, which was the Obama administration’s alternative to the canceled nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The Office of Nuclear Energy also researches current and future nuclear energy systems, and maintains the government’s nuclear energy research infrastructure.
From June 2012 to June 2013, Furstenau served as chief of nuclear safety for the undersecretary of energy. He also served as the principal deputy manager for DOE’s Idaho Operations Office from 2006 to 2015, delivering oversight for DOE’s nuclear energy research and development programs and operations at the Idaho National Laboratory.
Bill Mohl, president of Entergy’s nuclear power segment, will retire in February after 35 years in the utility business, the company announced last week.
Mohl’s departure comes as Entergy continues its exit from the merchant power business, which is operated by Entergy Wholesale Commodities: the company’s nuclear business. Entergy has shifted its focus to growth in the regulated utility business. Mohl’s responsibilities will shift to other senior managers on March 1, the company said.
“Bill’s contributions have been key in helping us to achieve our business objectives,” Entergy Chairman and CEO Leo Denault said in a statement. “In particular, the successful transition from the merchant power business is allowing us to focus on growing the utility.”
Mohl joined Entergy in 2002 and was previously vice president of the company’s commercial operations. He has also been Entergy’s vice president of system planning and operations; and chairman, president, and CEO of the defunct Entergy Louisiana LLC and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana LLC utilities. Before Entergy, Mohl worked for seven years at Houston-based Koch Industries in several senior management positions. Prior to that, Mohl worked in system operations for Xcel Energy of Denver for 14 years.
Entergy owns 11 nuclear reactors at nine locations across the U.S.
Within the past year, the company has announced closure of five plants: the Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, N.Y.; the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in Oswego, N.Y., which has tentatively been sold to Exelon and could remain in operation; the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Mass.; the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant in Vernon, Vt.; and the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant near South Haven, Mich.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has reaffirmed its intention to pay $72,289 to the nongovermental Friends of the Earth for its “substantial contribution” to the commission’s San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station shutdown settlement, despite the environmental group’s request for $483,503.
The commission offered $72,289, 85 percent under the requested amount, to the group in October. Friends of the Earth then suggested CPUC place an emergency hold on the request at its Dec. 1 meeting, allowing the board to consider comments at its next meeting. The CPUC rendered its final decision at its Jan. 19 meeting, without altering the original amount.
According to CPUC’s decision, Friends of the Earth contributed to the commission reaching a deal that saves California ratepayers $420 million over the course of 10 years.
CPUC announced in April that it was reopening the SONGS settlement, which dictated that state ratepayers pay $3.3 billion of the $4.7 billion cost to close the plant. The settlement was reached two years after closed-door conversations between then-CPUC President Michael Peevey and Stephen Pickett, at the time an executive for plant owner Southern California Edison, at a meeting in Warsaw, Poland. CPUC has since ordered interested parties to reconvene and determine if the settlement should be adjusted.
