10. NUCLEAR
Table 10.3 Plants that have benefited from state policies
Units (MW net) |
State |
Projected closure |
Reason for potential |
|
|
date |
closure |
Clinton (1 065 MW) |
Illinois |
2017 |
Market |
|
|
|
|
Fitzpatrick (852 MW) |
New York |
2017 |
Market |
Ginna (582 MW) |
New York |
2017 |
Market |
|
|
|
|
Hope Creek (1 172 MW) |
New Jersey |
2020 |
Market |
Millstone 2 and 3 (2 096 MW) |
Connecticut |
2020 |
Market |
|
|
|
|
Nine Mile Point 2 and 3 (1 770 MW) |
New York |
2017-18 |
Market |
Quad Cities 1 and 2 (1 819 MW) |
Illinois |
2018 |
Market |
|
|
|
|
Salem 1 and 2 (2 328 MW) |
New Jersey |
2020-21 |
Market |
|
|
|
|
Total capacity saved from premature closure: 11 683 MW
Source: NEI (2019a), Nuclear by the Numbers, www.nei.org/CorporateSite/media/filefolder/resources/fact- sheets/nuclear-by-the-numbers.pdf.
New builds
With the liberalisation of wholesale electricity markets in the 1990s, financing of capitalintensive power projects such as NPP has become difficult. New-build projects in the United States have advanced only in regulated electricity markets, where it is possible to pass on construction costs to consumers through taxes.
In spite of several applications to construct new reactors in the United States, only two projects – V.C. Summer and Vogtle – moved forward in the last decade, the first new construction for over 30 years.1
V.C. Summer
In March 2008, South Carolina Electric & Gas, a subsidiary of the South Carolina regulated utility SCANA, applied for a COL for the construction of two Westinghouse AP1000 units at its V.C. Summer site. The same year, an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract was signed with Westinghouse. Costs at the time were estimated at approximately USD 10 billion for the two units. The COL was granted in 2012, and construction started in March 2013, the first new construction in 30 years in the United States. Grid connection was expected in 2017 (first unit) and 2018 (second unit). The project encountered many fabrication, construction and regulatory delays, pushing up costs to an estimated USD 16 billion. In March 2017, Westinghouse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Soon after, SCANA reconsidered its options and decided to abandon the project and stop construction, after spending USD 9 billion.
Vogtle
The Vogtle 3 and 4 project is the only NPP currently under construction in the United States. The project to build two AP1000 reactors at the Vogtle site started in April 2008 with Georgia Power’s signing of an EPC contract with Westinghouse. Long lead components (heavy forgings such as pressure vessels and steam generators) were
1 Watts Bar 2, a Generation II PWR whose construction commenced in 1973, did come online in 2016. Construction was suspended for many years, and resumed in 2007, when the operator, Tennessee Valley Authority, decided to complete construction.
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