Cleaning up a DIY repair on Crystal River nuclear plant could cost $2.5 billion
By Ivan Penn, Tampa Bay Times
October 9, 2011
Had James Terry’s idea worked, it would have saved Progress Energy $15 million.
But it didn’t, and the consequences are staggering: $2.5 billion.
Progress customers will have to pay about a fourth of that.
The utility wanted to replace aging steam generators inside the thick, concrete containment building at its Crystal River nuclear power plant. The work is complex and costly.
Progress was warned about cutting into nuclear plant building
By Ivan Penn, Tampa Bay Times
November 9, 2011
The warning came in an email to the supervisor of a complicated project at the Crystal River nuclear plant.
“I just want to reiterate my concern … ”
It was March 9, 2009. To replace aging steam generators, Progress Energy was about to cut a big hole in the concrete building that shields the nuclear reactor.
Charles Hovey was an experienced construction foreman who had worked on similar projects at other nuclear plants. Progress, he observed, planned to use a different procedure to cut into its containment building.
New crack at Crystal River nuclear plant casts doubt on repair plan
By Ivan Penn, Tampa Bay Times
November 20, 2011
On July 26, monitors detected something amiss in the already crippled building that shields the reactor at Progress Energy’s nuclear plant. The pile of shattered concrete outside meant the utility faced a new problem.
The building was still falling apart — a development Progress was in no hurry to reveal to state regulators.
The incident marked the third time since 2009 that the containment building at the Crystal River plant had suffered major structural damage.
Customers paying for Crystal River nuclear plant repair should know the details
By Robert Trigaux (Business Columnist), Tampa Bay Times
December 4, 2011
“This is a complex issue in a complex industry, and not one that can be sufficiently addressed through the media or other unconventional means.”
-Progress Energy Florida CEO Vincent Dolan in a Nov. 16, 2011, letter to Florida legislators about the broken Crystal River nuclear power plant.
“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”
-Wizard of Oz, 1939
Nuclear fiasco in Florida vexes Progress Energy
By John Murawski, News & Observer
March 1, 2012
Progress Energy can congratulate itself for skirting major controversy at its three nuclear plants in the Carolinas in recent years. But 700 miles south of here, the Raleigh-based utility’s nuclear plant in Florida is experiencing one of the most exorbitant and bewildering mishaps in the history of the nation’s nuclear industry.
The Crystal River nuclear plant, on Florida’s west coast, has been shut down since the fall of 2009 and is expected to remain off-line until at least 2014 – that is, if the company decides to resurrect the damaged facility at all.
