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Surry Nuclear Plant Gets 20-Year Extension as Indian Point Goes Dark
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved 20-year subsequent renewed licenses (SRLs) for Dominion Energy Virginia’s Surry Power Station Units 1 and 2 near Newport News, Virginia, making them only the fifth and sixth reactors in the U.S. cleared to operate for 60 to 80 years.
But the number of operating U.S. nuclear reactors fell to 93 as Indian Point Energy Center Unit 3 in Buchanan, New York, powered down for the last time on April 30. The 45-year-old, 1,041-MW unit, remarkably, ran 753 days a world record for commercial light water reactors before it closed, said its owner and operator, Entergy Corp.
New York With a nuclear power plant prematurely retired in New York April 30 and the fate of two other plants in Illinois hanging in balance, the complexion of the US nuclear power fleet is in flux at a time when CO2 emissions reduction is high on the national agenda.
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Currently, just more than 8 GW of nuclear capacity is slated for retirement, with S&P Global Platts Analytics assessing roughly 5 GW of nuclear capacity at high risk of retirement before license expiration.
Assuming the high risk and announced retirements were to be replaced by natural gas-fired generation with an average heat rate of 7,000 Btu/kWh, an incremental 1.9 Bcf/d of power burn would result from replacing these retired generators, equivalent to about 39 million mt/year of CO2 emissions, or 2% of 2016 levels, according to Platts Analytics.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration
The Indian Point Energy Center (Indian Point) permanently stopped generating electricity on April 30, 2021, when it retired its last operating nuclear reactor, Unit 3, earlier than originally planned. The Indian Point nuclear power plant began operations in 1962 and produced over 565 terawatthours (TWh) of electricity in the 59 years it was open. The Unit 3 retirement removes almost 1,040 megawatts (MW) of nuclear generating capacity from New York State, leaving about 3,200 MW of remaining nuclear capacity at three plants in upstate New York.
Indian Point is located in Buchanan, New York, about 25 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. The plant had three pressurized water reactors. Unit 1 began operations in 1962 and shut down in 1974. Units 2 and 3 began operations in 1974 and 1976, respectively; Unit 2 retired in April 2020. The Consolidated Edison grid system distributed the plant’s electricity to the five boroughs of New York City a
Entergy s Indian Point Unit 3 to Permanently Shut Down
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BUCHANAN, N.Y., April 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ Control room operators at Entergy Corporation s (NYSE: ETR) Indian Point Energy Center Unit 3 will shut down the nuclear reactor by Friday, April 30, for the final time, marking the end of nearly 60 successful years of safe, virtually carbon-free power generation at the facility.
Announced in 2017, the shutdown of both operating units at Indian Point is pursuant to a settlement agreement with the State of New York and was the result of a number of factors, including sustained low current and projected wholesale energy prices that reduced revenues. Indian Point Unit 2 shut down as scheduled on April 30, 2020.