Nation's oldest nuclear plant suddenly in harsh spotlight (Oyster Creek, New Jersey)

[jpak]

http://www.istockanalyst.com/business/news/5024907/nation-s-oldest-nuclear-plant-suddenly-in-harsh-spotlight

(Source: Chicago Tribune)CHICAGO _ For more than five years, a small group of environmentalists and nuclear critics has fought to shut down one of Exelon Corp.'s nuclear power plants.

The nearly 42-year-old Oyster Creek plant, America's oldest operating nuclear reactor, sits about 5 miles inland from a string of beaches on New Jersey's coastline, known as the Jersey Shore, that draws waves of tourists in the summer. The area around the plant, about 50 miles east of Philadelphia, is one of the fastest-growing regions in New Jersey.

Opponents say the plant shows signs of aging, making it a threat to public health and safety. They have raised specific concerns about the integrity of the steel containment structure that encloses the reactor, a critical line of defense in preventing the release of radioactive materials. After reviewing those concerns, federal nuclear regulators in 2009 allowed Chicago-based Exelon to operate the plant for another 20 years.

But that wasn't the end of the fight. The opponents appealed the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's decision to a federal court, while also scoring a small victory. In December, Exelon announced that it will shut down the plant by 2019, at least 10 years before its license expires, under an agreement with New Jersey environmental regulators that spares the company from having to build costly cooling towers at the facility.

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It also has a seawater coolant system that kills fish and sea turtles.

[Statistical]

1. Look familiar.

It is a GE MK I Boiling Water Reactor. Same design as the ones in Japan.

For the record I would be for closing all GE MK I (23 in total) if we built an equivalent number of modern nuclear reactors to compensate. The GE MK I is relatively inefficient. All 23 reactors have combined peak output of 13GW. 10 modern 1400MW plants would have the same peak capacity. In actuality due to lower capacity factor (worst in the fleet at around 80% due to shorter refueling cycle, more downtime, less sustained peak output it would require only about 8 modern reactors at 95% capacity factor to produce an equivalent amount of energy.

23 aging inefficient designed based on 1960s era technology some of which are sited in very dubious locations
VS
8 modern highly efficient passively safe designs based on 2000s era technology.

Of course there is no compromise with the "no nukes" crowd so instead of new modern plants we will continue to run these 1960s era designs into the ground. Likely they will still be operating in 2030 or later.