Nuclear Power... not dead yet..

[btkeele]

I was perusing the NRC website this morning and noticed that every unit in regions I and II were operating at 100% power!  Pretty impressive... In fact nationwide there are only a few units
below 100%...  a couple of them are coming up after an outage and are 90+ %.

Here at Prairie Island unit 2, we are nearing Mode 4 and hope to be on-line soon.

Ft Calhoun is at 43% power which is great news for them!  It has been a long 3 years and
I am very happy for everyone there...

Happy Holidays to all my fellow nukeworkers... i believe our future is still bright!

BK

[hamsamich]

sounds like you and I are one of the only ones on NW who have any hope nuclear power isn't completely dying.  nice to know there is someone else....

[Chimera]

You are not alone.  Although I'm not sure I would recommend this career to my grandchildren.

[Fermi2]

Dying industry.

[jams723]

Dying industry.

Not quite dying, but on the ropes.  Natural ga prices are projected to rise in 2015/2016.  That combined with EPA emmissions restrictions will keep nuclear an option.  Southern and SCANA have to show that construction schedules and costs can be predictable. 

[UncaBuffalo]

Are we limiting the death watch to the domestic situation, or...?

[hamsamich]

There are plenty of countries that see nuclear power as viable and are investing and planning to invest in new ones so nuclear is alive and well in places outside the US, especially China.  Plus certain countries that were supposedly going to shutter all their nuke plants are reconsidering.  Seems obvious to me nuclear is alive in parts of the rest of the world.   I'm saying nuclear can possibly make a comeback in the US within 20 years.  Old single unit low output plants shutting down doesn't signal the coming of death of nuclear power in my book.  Neither do damaged plants costing billions to overhaul.  Fukushima was bad press for nuclear recently but let's see what happens if 10 more years go by without another major problem.  I think we are undecided in the US and depending on world nuclear safety record, middle east volatility, natural gas production/prices in North America, World Energy consumption overall, new worldwide fossil fuel discoveries, fossil fuel greenhouse gas production technology Nuclear Technology/Uranium price and availability, greenhouse gas stance (US and world), US political climate and green technology advancement; there is plenty of room for US nuclear to either fail or succeed.

[jams723]

Are we limiting the death watch to the domestic situation, or...?

Sorry, yes, My comment was specifically directed towards domestic U.S.