1. Entergy plans to close and decommission its Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station. The station is expected to cease power production after its current fuel cycle and move to safe shutdown in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Cheap Natural Gas and subsidized wind
The decision was driven by sustained low power prices, high cost structure and wholesale electricity market design flaws for Vermont Yankee plant.
Politics also prevented Vermont Yankee from establishing long term contracts.
* A natural gas market that has undergone a transformational shift in supply due to the impacts of shale gas, resulting in sustained low natural gas prices and wholesale energy prices.
* A high cost structure for this single unit plant. Since 2002, the company has invested more than $400 million in the safe and reliable operation of the facility. In addition, the financial impact of cumulative regulation is especially challenging to a small plant in these market conditions.
* Wholesale market design flaws that continue to result in artificially low energy and capacity prices in the region, and do not provide adequate compensation to merchant nuclear plants for the fuel diversity benefits they provide.
2. China's Dongfang Electrical Machinery Company has built the world's biggest per unit generator (1750 megawatts) that will be installed at a nuclear power plant.
The Taishan Nuclear Power Plant is under construction and plans to go online in 2013 and will be the third site to house Areva's 1,700 megawatt (MW) European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) units.
Taishan 1 is scheduled to begin operation by December 2013.
Taishan 2 is scheduled to begin operation by December 2014.
They will each have taken just over 4 years to build.
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Cheap Natural Gas and subsidized wind
The decision was driven by sustained low power prices, high cost structure and wholesale electricity market design flaws for Vermont Yankee plant.
Politics also prevented Vermont Yankee from establishing long term contracts.
* A natural gas market that has undergone a transformational shift in supply due to the impacts of shale gas, resulting in sustained low natural gas prices and wholesale energy prices.
* A high cost structure for this single unit plant. Since 2002, the company has invested more than $400 million in the safe and reliable operation of the facility. In addition, the financial impact of cumulative regulation is especially challenging to a small plant in these market conditions.
* Wholesale market design flaws that continue to result in artificially low energy and capacity prices in the region, and do not provide adequate compensation to merchant nuclear plants for the fuel diversity benefits they provide.
2. China's Dongfang Electrical Machinery Company has built the world's biggest per unit generator (1750 megawatts) that will be installed at a nuclear power plant.
The Taishan Nuclear Power Plant is under construction and plans to go online in 2013 and will be the third site to house Areva's 1,700 megawatt (MW) European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) units.
Taishan 1 is scheduled to begin operation by December 2013.
Taishan 2 is scheduled to begin operation by December 2014.
They will each have taken just over 4 years to build.
Read more »
