Posted on 05/08/2022 6:38:26 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
The looming closure of the Palisades nuclear power plant at month’s end may push Michigan’s short-term climate goals out of reach, both industry experts and energy regulators agreed.
The loss of 800 megawatts of carbon-free energy from the nuclear plant along Lake Michigan near South Haven is likely to result in more greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere as the electric sector pivots to natural gas while more solar and wind generation comes online.
In Michigan, the state’s climate plan calls for 60 percent of the state’s power to come from renewable sources within the next eight years. Incremental goals in that plan are seen as a factor in the governor’s attempt to keep Palisades running: the plant’s closure will leave a vacuum in already available emissions-free energy.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made a last-minute play to keep the 50-year-old nuclear power plant operating past its long-planned closure date at the end of this month, after President Joe Biden last month announced a $6 billion program to rescue nuclear plants at risk of closing. Whether it will be in time for the Palisades remains unclear, though E&E News reported a top U.S. energy official recently confirmed the Michigan plant remains on schedule to close May 31.
That will mean more carbon emissions – at least in the next several years – from an uptick in natural gas plants that are cheaper to operate by power generation companies.
(Excerpt) Read more at mlive.com ...
I think that you are right about the ownership.
I believe that over a certain period of time, the stainless steel tubing and parts become brittle,
after exposure to radiation and high temps,
and must be replaced periodically over time.
It's all part of the routine maintenance required by the NRC.
Parts subject to embrittlement are checked.
During a late night chat with one of the mechanics at the plant I was working at, he told me that he was the one who found that "problem." According to him, ALL of the carbon steel was gone and the only thing left was the clad!!!! He was a contract employee working an outage and was NOT an employee at Davis-Besse.
It looks like to me that they had been having problems for a while but were sweeping it under the rug to get the outages done and the plant back on line. Plus you don't have that much going on with metal being corroded and not seeing it in other ways.
Flash ahead a few years and the plant I was at was having primary leakage. I was involved as a supervisor trying to figure out what was going on. We had someone else on the management team that was from Davis-Besse and I always wondered why he didn't recognize IMMEDIATELY what we were seeing based on him being involved at Davis-Besse. I always assumed they cleaned house there and I assumed he was one of the casualties.
Interesting. There’s always seems to more to the story.
Anyway, that’s the kind of thing that is in the back of my mind when they start talking about extending plant life. On paper it might look great, but unless you have all of the information you can’t make a good decision.
I’m not familiar with NRC because I was Navy, but if you’re extending a license you need to do thorough eyes on inspections and interviews with the plant workers as well as paper audits.
The good thing about the Navy is if you’re caught covering something up, the hammer drops. There have been whole boat crews that have gone down.
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