New US water regulations prompt nuclear plant shutdown The Oyster Creek nuclear ...

New US water regulations prompt nuclear plant shutdown The Oyster Creek nuclear power station in the US state of New Jersey will shut in 2019, ten years earlier than it is licensed to operate until, due in part to potentially stricter environmental regulations on water use. The plant’s owner and operator, Exelon, announced the news, with the company’s President and Chief Operating Officer Chris Crane stating that: ‘The plant faces a unique set of economic conditions and changing environmental regulations that make ending operations in 2019 the best option for the company, employees and shareholders.’ Negative economic factors, including low market prices and demand, and the plant’s need for continuing capital expenditures, were the major factors in the decision. The environmental compliance costs related to changing water-cooling regulatory requirements from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, as well as on a federal level from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which have created significant regulatory and economic uncertainty, says Exelon. Closing in 2019 means that the Oyster Creek plant does not have to lay out capital expenditure on cooling towers to protect local river life, at a time when electricity demand and prices are low. The 600 MW plant has a workforce of 700. Oyster Creek may not be the only plant to be forced to close due to environmental regulations. Proposed air and water regulations from the EPA could result in the closure of a ‘significant number’ of plants, according to an assessment, Resource adequacy impacts of potential US environmental regulations, from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). The EPA’s Clean Water Act, and specifically Section 316(b) relating to cooling water intake structures, has the greatest potential impact on closures, according to NERC. Up to 252 GW of fossil-fuelled and 60 GW of nuclear capacity is affected by the regulation. NERC states that up to 41 GW of capacity may be economically vulnerable to retirement if power suppliers need to convert to re-circulating cooling water systems. The report is available from www.nerc.com Unit 4 of the Kaiga nuclear power plant in Karnataka, India, has started operation, and at the time of writing was due to be connected to the local grid in January, reports World Nuclear News. It is the last of the original 220 MW Indian-designed reactors to commence operation. Start-up of the plant has been delayed due to a shortage of uranium - the Kaiga units are not under UN safeguards and so cannot use imported uranium.