ML20136E221
| ML20136E221 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Millstone  |
| Issue date: | 01/20/1997 |
| From: | Blanch P AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| To: | Mulley G, Zwolinski J NRC (Affiliation Not Assigned), NRC OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS (OPA), NRC OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL (OIG) |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20136C110 | List:
|
| References | |
| NUDOCS 9703130145 | |
| Download: ML20136E221 (3) | |
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F06 From
. PAUL-BLANCH <PMBLANCH91x.netcom.com>
Tos-f WND2.WNP3 (j az), TWD1.TWP4 (gam), WND1.WNP9 (opa), KPD1....
'Date 1/20/97 12:00pm Laubjects Mistakes, Reuters News, Opinions-INTERVIEW-NU will not rule out sh'utting nuke
' Source: Reuters WATERFORD, Conn., Reuters via Individual Inc. : The head of
' Northeast Utilities' troubled nuclear operation said Friday that the company has seen no slippage in efforts to restart its three plants, but that it won't rule out shutting one plant permanently for economic reasons.
The utility's three Millstone plants in Waterford have been closed for safety reasons since March of last year. It is conducting an economic analysis on Millstone Unit 1 to be completed by June, Northeast Nuclear Energy Company President and Chief Executive Officer Bruce Kenyon said.
"Certainly our best guess, and I emphasize it's a guess, is that Unit 1 will pass the analysis test," Kenyon told Reuters in an interview.
"But until we get through crunching all the numbers, and running all the different scenarios... we really don't know the outcome," he said.
Northeast said last month it expects to have all three plants ready for restart by early 1998, pending approval by federal regulators.
Kenyon said his " gut feel" was that Millstone 1, opened in 1970, would pass the analysis test.
l "But the analysis is not completed, and if the outcome should surprise us, we'll have to change course," he said. Closing the plant permanently was "a possibility," he said.
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"If one unit is not going to pass the test it would be Unit 1, l
because it's the smallest, the oldest, and it has l
the least lifetime left on its operating license."
He said there was a " smaller probability" that Unit 2 would fail the test and be permanently closed.
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It was " virtually inconceivable" that Unit 3, the newest of the plants, might fail an economic analysis, said 1
l Kenyon.
ano3\\)0N 9703130145 970306 PDR ORG NRRA PDR
I Northeast said last month it would permanently close its Connecticut Yankee plant in Haddam Neck, Conn., after an economic analysis showed that customers could potentially save $100 million or more by the early closing of the plant.
Connecticut Yankee, operated and 49 percent owned by Northeast, was licensed to operate until 2007, but had been idle since July 1996 when it was shut down for safety reasons.
Asked to comment on the transmission bottleneck that complicated power imports to Connecticut last summer, Kenyon said: "We are making changes to the transmission system that will roughly make up for our ownership share of (582 megawatt) Connecticut Yankee."
Kenyon did not elaborate on the transmission changes, but said that New England generally has sufficient power capacity. " "The challenge is getting it into this portion of Connecticut when the Millstone units aren't running. We are improving that situation by the transmission upgrades, but it still will be a tight summer (in 1997), similar to the summer of 1996."
Kenyon said he could not disclose how much it would cost Northeast in 1997 to be without its three nuclear plants, but said the company's total outage-related bill was in the hundreds of millions of dollars..
"Those costs that are the result of mismanagement we will not seek to recover (from the public)," he said.
" Frankly, it's not a number we're going to talk a lot about."
"There's no question we're spending huge amounts of money to do what needs to be done to restart those units," he said.
"It's very important to us that we get a (Millstone) unit up and running in 1997," he said.
Kenyon, brought in from South Carolina Electric and Gas Company last year to help sort out Northeast's nuclear woes, said the nuclear power industry had a long-term future in the U.S. despite increasing criticism from environmentalists.
" Energy in the U.S.
for a good period of time will have some significant nuclear component," he said.
"I think the country will conclude that in the absence of some i
other new discovery, that nuclear is needed."
l Kenyon said a "next generation" of nuclear plants was likely to be built in the U.S.,
though perhaps not
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J for 10 years or so.
--Hartford newsroom (860) 727-0224
[01-17-97 at 16:59 EST, Copyright 1997, Reuters America Inc.]
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This is in response to Dave Lochbaum's " retraction." I agree it takes a good person to be able to admit he made a mistake. Great j
' job Dave.
-j l
Paul Have you.ever heard-a'simular type " I.made a mistake-I'm sorry" from a utility or NRC-in the beginning of an issue. Man, wouldn't I
that be.something. It took a man to write that letter.
PAUL-Hearing.that NRC and DOE are joining together is really strange.
After all, Congress deliberately dismembered the AEC on the grounds that tr.e' promotion of nuclear power (with-its strategic defense ramifications) could not take place side-by-side with the regulation of nuclear power.-
Hence, the Energy Act.of 1974 created-two separate functions under two different heads.
This " cooperation" agreement sounds suspiciously like two executive agencies agreeing.to do what Congress did not intend they should do--i.e., work together.
Mrs. O' Leary has been working hard to " fan the fires" (so to speak) of continued use of nuclear power in the U.S..and sale of reactors world-wide.
She had done so without any thought for reactor. safety issues.
This promotional approach is what the law directs her to do.
Meanwhile, Ms.
Jackson has been doing her thing in the regulatory arena.
There in'nothing stopping DOE from reading what's in the NRC docket, just like the rest of us.
The same applies to the NRC of the DOE materials.
I say, turn it over to the DOJ and Congress.
These two agencies are not suppose to be " pals" under any circumstances.
NRC is supposed to be the Cop, DOE is supposed to be the, well, you get the picture.
===
i Paul M.
Blanch i
Energy Consultant 135 Hyde Rd.
West Hartford CT 06117 i
Tel: 860-236-0326 Fax: 860-232-9350 J
i
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