On Thursday, Duke Energy Florida (formerly Progress Energy) announced that the company would pull the plug on its future Levy Co. nuclear plant. And the money the company has been collecting from customers for years — and will continue to collect until 2018 — will go toward Duke Energy’s expenses and profits.
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Nuclear renaissance was just a fairy tale — The Guardian
The promise of cheap, low-carbon power – with 31 new reactors in the US – was based on rhetoric and obedience. Anyone who doubts that should read the new status report on the industry. It is all in ruins now.
Duke suspends plans for Shearon Harris expansion — WRAL
Duke Energy notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Thursday that it is suspending its application to build new reactors at the Shearon Harris nuclear plant. NC WARN welcomed the announcement but scolded the utility for wasting millions of dollars that could have been spent on energy-saving programs. “The Shearon Harris failure perfectly typifies why the U.S. nuclear ‘renaissance’ is making global warming worse,” Executive Director Jim Warren said in a statement.
Demise of New Harris Nukes is an Important Public Victory toward a Clean Energy Revolution — News Release from NC WARN
Duke Energy’s cancellation yesterday of licensing efforts to build two nuclear reactors at subsidiary Progress Energy’s Harris nuclear plant is good news – but it comes with a taint. Duke-Progress threw away eight years and $70 million – while blocking widespread advances in energy-saving programs, solar and wind, and combined heat and power.
Duke Energy will ask customers to pay for canceled reactors — The News & Observer
When Progress Energy applied for a rate increase last fall, the request didn’t include $70 million the Raleigh electric utility had spent on a planned addition of two reactors at the Shearon Harris nuclear plant in Wake County. But Duke Energy, which acquired Progress last summer, plans to recover those costs and pass them on to customers, Duke CEO Jim Rogers told investors Friday. Rogers revealed the company’s intentions a day after Charlotte-based Duke announced it is canceling the Shearon Harris expansion.
Duke Energy shelves plans for new reactors at Shearon Harris — The News & Observer
After years of delays and postponements, Duke Energy issued an obituary for a pair of long-planned reactors at the Shearon Harris nuclear plant in Wake County. The Charlotte power company has canceled plans to add the new reactors to the site, where a single unit has been generating electricity for a quarter-century. Duke told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that sluggish growth forecasts show new nuclear units won’t be needed for at least 15 years.
Consumer Alliance Warns of a Doubling of Electricity Rates under Duke Energy’s Business Plan – News Release from Consumers Against Rate Hikes
Economists say a proposed “annual rate hike bill” to fund new nuclear plants would be aninterest-free loan to Duke from ratepayers – without saving any money.
See the study
24 Groups: NRC Rushing Nuclear “Waste Confidence” Process, Not Satisfying Court-Ordered Requirements – News Release
In documents filed Wednesday with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), a wide range of national and grassroots environmental groups said it would be impossible for the NRC to adequately conduct a court-ordered assessment of the environmental implications of long-term storage of spent nuclear reactor fuel in the two short years the federal agency envisions for the process.
Nuclear construction project in free fall; Duke at risk too – News Release from NC WARN
The first US nuclear plant being built in a generation tumbles further into a perfect storm of cost overruns, delays, corporate bungling and an uncertain future, as documented last week by a career nuclear engineer monitoring the project for Georgia regulators.
Credibility is hard to come by with Duke Energy – Tampa Bay Times column
This is not a critique of the proposed nuclear power plant in Levy County. Let the engineers, watchdogs and investors debate the details of that plan. This is about something simpler. In some ways, something far more important. This is about credibility.