Limerick Generating Station Units 1 and 2
LIMERICK PA – Exelon Nuclear’s minimum set-aside for the future cost of decommissioning the Limerick Unit 1 nuclear power plant – the money the company must save to cover expenses of shutting down the reactor once its operating licenses expire – is about $100 million shy of what federal regulators think it needs.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has sent Exelon a “request for additional information” on how it “plans to address a decommissioning fund shortfall for … Limerick Unit 1,” the agency’s King of Prussia PA-based spokesman, Neil Sheehan, said Wednesday (Jan. 1, 2012).
The NRC, which is the governmental supervisor of operations at Limerick and other nuclear power plants across the country, includes as part of its oversight ensuring funds are available to pay for decommissioning costs. It estimates shutting down Limerick 1 would cost Exelon at least $628,251,763, Sheehan said; as of Dec. 31 (2011), only $528,210,057 was on hand.
Exelon has already announced it wanted to ask the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to allow it to raise energy prices to consumers – “request rate relief” is the term it uses – during the second half of 2012 to make up the shortfall. If approved, the increase would take effect at the start of 2013, according to Sheehan.
That may still be the plan, but the NRC wants to know for sure, and so mailed its request. “Once we receive the … response, we will make a determination regarding reasonable assurance of adequate decommissioning funding for the plant,” Sheehan said.
Other coverage:
- NRC: Exelon Must Provide Details On Fund Shortfall (Limerick Patch)
Related (to federal relicensing of Limerick Generating Station):
- NRC Asks Exelon To Say How It Will Cover Shortfall
- Limerick Neighbors Prep Thursday For Exelon Drill
- Police Detail At Limerick Hearings Cost $1,468
- Nuclear Relicensing Wins Local Praise, And Worry
- NRC Legal Notice: LGS Re-License Meetings Ahead
- Local Voices Endorse, Worry Over Nuclear Relicensing
- NRC Holds Public Meetings Thursday At Sunnybrook
- NRC Holds Public Meetings Sept. 22 At Sunnybrook
- NRC Legal Notice: Meetings Ahead At Sunnybrook
- NRC Staffers Stop By, Say ‘Hi’ To Commissioners
- Exelon Nuclear Renewals Win Two Early Endorsements
- Exelon Officially Asks To Extend LGS Operating Licenses
- Meeting Wednesday To Review Limerick Nuclear Safety
- LGS License Renewals Topic At May Chamber Breakfast
Photo from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Where is the $528 million invested and is the interest adding to the fund. I bet not and that there really isn’t any money there at all.
Clearly decommissioning these reactors, which lie within the reach of millions of the population of this region, needs to be properly vetted and funded.
The NRC is our watchdog … Let loose this dog and make sure it’s doing the job we need done for our future and our children. The spectre of a Cherynobl landscape looms for those who fail to take this matter seriously and do what is right.
We might want to make the decommissioning funding a requirement for any effort to extend the life of these reactors …