Search Results for: zion

…‘s power off the electrical grid. I proceeded to ask about security at the Zion Plant. The Zion Plant has had many individuals inside taking care of the Plant — it is not crumbling — and outside guarding the Plant since it was shut down in 1998. The radioactive rods in dry cast storage will rest on an area about the size of a football field. There will be a two chain link fences around the site which will be set as far back from Lake Michigan as p…

…ate Payoffs March 14, 2009 – Discussing Zion Versus Wind Turbines February 5, 2009 – Unfriending Exelon January 24, 2009 – Exelon’s Strategy is Working for Stockholders but not Always for Customers December 5, 2008 – More Questioning About the Zion Reactors June 5, 2008 – Could Zion be the Next Browns Ferry Additional Information Timeline of Key Events for Zion Nuclear Power Station (Source: NRC: Zion Units 1 & 2) (Disclosure: My personal investme…

…enge for Nancy is that Exelon has already transferred the ownership of the Zion Nuclear Power Plant to a newly formed limited liability company called ZionSolutions, LLC whose sole purpose is to dismantle the plant and turn what is now a completed power plant into just a long term storage site for 25 years worth of used nuclear fuel. (The company is telling people that the site will be returned to a greenfield status, but that is not likely under…

…rted to the NRC that it had decided to permanently cease operations at the Zion Nuclear Power Station for economic reasons. At the time of its closure, Zion was facing a repair involving the replacement of all steam generators at both plants, a project that was estimated to cost about $500 million. The general economic and energy situation in 1998 was considerably different than it is today. In 1998, natural gas cost about $3.00 per million BTU at…

…ter the merger was completed, Corbin McNeill, the CEO of PECO, asked about Zion and its prospects for restart. He had been shopping around for nuclear plant acquisitions for PECO, so it is logical that he would consider an idle plant to be a potential asset. However, according to a March 2002 article from the Daily Herald titled Exelon has no plans to reopen Zion plant. the company determined that it would not make any preparations to restart the…

…. One of the slow-moving events that kept David focused on questioning the Zion decision was the inexorable rise in natural gas prices throughout the period from 1998-2008. David discovered that there had been some non-public agreements about Zion’s steam generators between Commonwealth Edison and Westinghouse that settled the ongoing suits. He found out that some local political leaders had been invited to closed-door meetings about the plant’s f…

…ting to find out how the current cost of electricity in the territory that Zion could serve compares to the cost that was assumed during the analysis. I have no idea just how challenging it would be to inspect the Zion plants, replace the steam generators and regain an operating license from the NRC. Steam generator replacements have become almost routine operations that can be completed by several qualified vendors who willingly participate in co…

…laced in service on or after the date of enactment of this section.” Since Zion was shutdown in 1998 and its operating license was returned to the NRC, it is impossible to classify it as a nuclear plant that is in service today. A restored and relicensed Zion Nuclear Power Plant would would certainly “be placed into service” after the passage of the act and meet the definition of “qualified nuclear energy”. The Clean Energy Standard Act of 2010 wa…

…I don’t have all the facts or all of the cost figures needed to re-license Zion at this point, but from what I do know, the Zion decommissioning decision doesn’t make any sense to me. Hat tip to Nancy Thorner and David Hollein, who both remain dedicated to the mission of asking someone to please operate the currently idle nuclear power plant that has been in their figurative backyard for so many years. I also want to thank the Exelon spokesman who…

…ent”) shutdown. I have written on this issue before in a post titled Could Zion be the Next Browns Ferry. Since that time, I have continued to probe and find additional sources that tell me that restoring Zion would not be terribly difficult from a technical point of view. It would not be “cheap”, but for something in the general neighborhood of $1-5 billion dollars, the plant could become a fully licensed and operable greenhouse gas emission-free…