Senators: NRC stifled financial probe of FitzPatrick and other nuclear plants

[kristopher]

Senators: NRC stifled financial probe of FitzPatrick and other nuclear plants
Two U.S. senators say nuclear regulators backed away from investigating the financial fitness of the FitzPatrick nuclear plant in Oswego County, and other plants, after owner Entergy Corp. objected

By Tim Knauss | [e-mail]
November 15, 2013 at 7:34 AM

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Two U.S. senators have accused the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of backing away from a probe of the worsening finances of Entergy Corp.'s nuclear plants, including the FitzPatrick plant in Oswego County, after Entergy complained about the inquiry.

In a letter Thursday to NRC Chairman Allison Macfarlane, Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., said nuclear safety regulators are duty-bound to evaluate the financial fitness of plant operators.

The senators expressed "grave concern'' over reports that NRC staff members were told to stop asking Entergy for financial information after Entergy complained to higher-ups at the NRC.

"In our opinion, financial distress and the failure to maintain sufficient operating funds would be expected to signal the potential for future degradations in safety brought about by a licensee's need to conserve funding,'' they wrote.

Entergy has acknowledged financial challenges ...

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/11/senators_criticize_nrc_for_halting_inquiry_into_nuclear_finances_at_fitzpatrick.html

What's stronger than nuclear power? Falling electricity prices
By Steve Daniels November 18, 2013

Add the Quad Cities nuclear power station to the list of facilities Exelon Corp. would consider shutting if wholesale power prices continue to stay low.

Exelon CEO Christopher Crane for the first time publicly fingered the Quad Cities plant as suffering financially in remarks to investors at a conference in Orlando, Fla., last week. But Mr. Crane, who earlier had said the downstate Clinton plant was in trouble, dangled the possibility that both plants could stay open if the company can negotiate long-term contracts that would charge ratepayers prices above what the market currently is offering.

That would create a dilemma for lawmakers in Springfield, who prize the high-paying union jobs and millions in tax revenues that the nukes provide but would open them to intense criticism if they approved a deal that raises electricity rates just to keep the plants open.

“We think the nuclear assets are very valuable,” Mr. Crane said. “We know how to run them better than anybody else. But at the end of the day, if we're not compensated for them we'll just have to shut them down.”

If that happens, he added, “We'll work with the employee base...

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20131116/ISSUE01/311169983/whats-stronger-than-nuclear-power-falling-electricity-prices

[djean111]

1. " a deal that raises electricity rates just to keep the plants open. "

The United States in a nutshell.

[kristopher]

2. "The United States in a nutshell"

I just know there is a terrific quip lurking in that quote...