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Repairing a cracked containment wall will force Progress Energy to keep the Crystal River nuclear plant offline longer than anticipated. Progress Energy shut down the plant on Sept. 26 for a major maintenance project that was expected to last only into December. But on Friday the utility told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it now plans a major repair: removing and replacing part of the containment wall, which has developed a gap below the surface. "It is clear that the repairs will require us to extend our outage," Progress Energy spokeswoman Jessica Lambert said.

Repairing a cracked containment wall will force Progress Energy to keep the Crystal River nuclear plant offline longer than anticipated. Progress Energy shut down the plant on Sept. 26 for a major maintenance project that was expected to last only into December. But on Friday the utility told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it now plans a major repair: removing and replacing part of the containment wall, which has developed a gap below the surface. "It is clear that the repairs will require us to extend our outage," Progress Energy spokeswoman Jessica Lambert said.

A former federal energy regulator, environmentalists and others asked Florida leaders today to delay their pursuit of nuclear power in light of lower electricity demand and the rising costs of building new reactors. A Southern Alliance for Clean Energy meeting on the issue comes days before the Public Service Commission will vote on whether FPL and Progress Energy can pass to customers the incremental planning costs of four new nuclear reactors that are estimated to cost up to $35 billion and are awaiting state and federal approvals. Utilities have pushed for expanding nuclear energy because once reactors are built, they provide a relatively cheap, long-term source of energy that doesn't release greenhouse gases and also saves customers money by protecting them from fluctuating fuel costs. Nuclear energy makes up a fifth of the power produced by FPL at a fraction of the cost of other power sources.

A former federal energy regulator, environmentalists and others asked Florida leaders today to delay their pursuit of nuclear power in light of lower electricity demand and the rising costs of building new reactors. A Southern Alliance for Clean Energy meeting on the issue comes days before the Public Service Commission will vote on whether FPL and Progress Energy can pass to customers the incremental planning costs of four new nuclear reactors that are estimated to cost up to $35 billion and are awaiting state and federal approvals. Utilities have pushed for expanding nuclear energy because once reactors are built, they provide a relatively cheap, long-term source of energy that doesn't release greenhouse gases and also saves customers money by protecting them from fluctuating fuel costs. Nuclear energy makes up a fifth of the power produced by FPL at a fraction of the cost of other power sources.

Opposition to Progress Energy's proposed rate increases continued bubbling up this week amid public hearings across the state. Among the latest opponents: Mark Cooper, an economist and author on the financing of nuclear power reactors. Cooper told the Florida Public Service Commission that it is "not prudent" to proceed with plans for building new Progress Energy nuclear reactors in Levy County and a similar Florida Power & Light project near Miami. Cooper estimated it would cost $1.9 trillion to $4.1 trillion more over the life of 100 new nuclear reactors than it would to generate the same electricity from a combination of more energy efficiency and renewables. Separately, the business-affiliated group Associated Industries of Florida intervened for the first time on a rate case, backing Florida Power and Light's base rate increase. Associated Industries did not take a stance "at this time" on Progress Energy's filings. Progress is seeking to raise its base rates 30 percent and wants to add roughly $3 to the average monthly bill to help pay for its planned nuclear plant. On Thursday, community hearings were held in St. Petersburg and Clearwater. Hearings continue Friday in Inverness and Ocala and wrap up next week before the issue heads to the PSC.

When Progress Energy announced plans more than two years ago to build a nuclear plant in Levy County, the project met little resistance. Electric bills were a lot lower, the utility's customer base was still growing and the Legislature had just passed a nuclear-friendly law to encourage construction. Then it came: An economic recession led by a surge in housing foreclosures, a collapse of the banking industry and the loss of millions of jobs. For the first time in memory, Progress Energy began losing customers in Florida. Last month, homeowners and businesses began receiving the tab for Progress Energy's nuclear plant. The consumer outrage has led lawmakers to call for changes. Suddenly, Florida's appetite for an expensive nuclear plant has diminished. At least $4 billion of the $17 billion project is still slated to be collected from Progress Energy customers before the plant is even completed in 2017.

"In the most "Woody Allen esque" protest I've seen in a while, 50 activists dressed as renewable energy sources (sun, wind, water) used a fire truck to get into one of the dodgiest nuclear plants in Sweden. I'm going in! They want their govenment to follow through on a decades old national referendum to phase out nuclear power. The Swedish parliment will vote this week on whether to stick to the nuclear power phase out, or backslide and open the door to new reactors. Our man in Sweden says: "The Swedish parliament is risking the country's reputation and position as a progressive leader in clean and safe energy development. All the evidence shows that nuclear power is a dangerous, expensive and dead-end distraction from the real solutions to climate protection and energy security. Reactors are standing in the way of energy efficiency and renewable energy programs." -- Ludvig Tillman, energy campaigner for Greenpeace Nordic."

Nuclear power is among the most costly approaches to solving America's energy problems. Per dollar of investment, clean energy solutions - such as energy efficiency and renewable resources - deliver far more energy than nuclear power. This fact has important implications for America's energy policy. By directing resources toward the most cost-effective solutions, we can make greater progress toward a secure, reliable and safe sup- ply of electricity to power America's economy. Dollar for dollar, a clean energy portfolio can deliver more energy than nuclear power. Per dollar of investment:

People are conserving energy and GRU revenues are declining, except during periods of extreme weather conditions. However, electric battery-charged cars are on the horizon. They will likely take up any slack in energy use, and then some. Progress Energy is looking ahead to increasing energy use. Their plans are to build two new nuclear power plants. However, electric customers beware, excessive cost overruns (and defects and deficiencies) at a Finnish power plant have been reported in the New York Times. If Progress Energy experiences similar problems, utility customers should brace for a double-cost whammy in their electric bills.

Progress Energy customers have experienced a different kind of heat as the $9 billion dollar, privately owned, highly profitable utility company seeks further rate hikes. Those customers will have a chance to voice their displeasure at upcoming Florida Public Service Commission public hearings in Inverness and Ocala on Friday, July 17th (see details at the end). Progress Energy customers have already felt the sting of an allowance in a 2006 Florida law (s366.93) that permits the utility to pass along certain capital costs in rate hikes to customers.

Progress Energy continues to investigate what caused a 2-inch wide and at least 30-foot-long crack in the containment wall of its Crystal River Nuclear Power Plant. It expects to have answers within the next few weeks. Once the cause is determined, the utility will decide how it will repair the containment wall, said Jessica Lambert, Progress Energy spokeswoman. The containment facility ensures that radiation doesn't escape in the event of a radioactive leak or accident within the reactor. Also unknown is how much it will cost to repair the crack, which is about 9 inches deep inside the 42-inch-thick wall.

Progress Energy continues to investigate what caused a 2-inch wide and at least 30-foot-long crack in the containment wall of its Crystal River Nuclear Power Plant. It expects to have answers within the next few weeks. Once the cause is determined, the utility will decide how it will repair the containment wall, said Jessica Lambert, Progress Energy spokeswoman. The containment facility ensures that radiation doesn't escape in the event of a radioactive leak or accident within the reactor. Also unknown is how much it will cost to repair the crack, which is about 9 inches deep inside the 42-inch-thick wall.

Area residents will have a chance to speak out on Progress Energy Florida electric rates and a controversial electricity charge at public forums to be held this summer. Nine hearings are planned, according to the state's Office of Public Counsel, which represents consumers before the Florida Public Service Commission. The main focus will concern Progress Energy base rates that would go into effect in 2010, a Progress Energy spokesman, Tim Leljedal, said today.

Progress Energy and federal officials continue to investigate the cause of a half-inch-wide crack recently found inside a containment wall at the Crystal River nuclear plant. One possibility: The crack opened as workers created a huge hole in the reactor building's fortress-thick outer wall to remove some old equipment. "It looks like it's very new," Progress Energy spokeswoman Jessica Lambert said of the crack. The gap was discovered about six weeks ago, shortly after the nuclear plant was shut down for a major maintenance project, officials said. No radiation escaped.

Progress Energy and federal officials continue to investigate the cause of a half-inch-wide crack recently found inside a containment wall at the Crystal River nuclear plant. One possibility: The crack opened as workers created a huge hole in the reactor building's fortress-thick outer wall to remove some old equipment. "It looks like it's very new," Progress Energy spokeswoman Jessica Lambert said of the crack. The gap was discovered about six weeks ago, shortly after the nuclear plant was shut down for a major maintenance project, officials said. No radiation escaped.

Several assumptions need to be corrected. Canada's energy mix is 59.8 per cent hydro, 16.1 per cent coal, 11.6 per cent nuclear, 6.7 per cent oil, 4.9 per cent natural gas and 0.9 per cent renewables. Hydro will continue to produce the same amount of electricity every year; however its proportion of the energy mix will decline due to net increases in demand. Wind generates power 30 per cent of the time, solar 20 per cent and other renewables 30 to 50 per cent. Replacing all nuclear and fossil fuel energy sources with renewables by 2040 would result in this mix: 47.2 per cent hydro; 13.8 per cent wind; 7.2 per cent solar; 5.5 per cent tidal/wave; 23.1 per cent geothermal; 3.2 per cent other renewables, such as biomass and waste water. This is a manageable expectation, especially in Ontario where we have made a commitment through the Green Energy Act. The GTA has made significant progress in both renewable sources of energy and energy conservation.

"Just over 1,240 days ago, in December 2006, Progress Energy Florida chief Jeff Lyash first visited the St. Petersburg Times to unveil plans for a nuclear power plant in Levy County and to utter these words: "It's important to have a new nuclear plant in Florida." Lyash, since promoted, said those words when the plant's original price tag stood at about $6 billion, and when the Levy plant was to begin operating in 2016. Since then, the price tag on the Levy facility has steadily ballooned. Last week in regulatory filings, Progress Energy said the nuke plant may cost as much as $22.5 billion and be delayed until 2021."

"Progress Energy is asking the Tampa Tribune to retract a two-paragraph brief that ran on page 6B of its print editions, which said the utility company had plans to scrap development of its nuclear power plant after state regulators last week rejected its $500 million rate increase request.Download Utility reaction to rate hike rejection1 The article sparked a protest from Sen. Mike Fasano, who sent a letter to Public Service Commission Chairwoman Nancy Argenziano asking the PSC to demand that the company refund to customers the money it had already collected from customers to pay for development of the new nuclear plants. "Since Progress Energy was allowed to raise rates last year and previously for advance nuclear cost recovery, it only seems fair that the customers who paid those rates should be given a refund for a project that is no longer in the works,'' Fasano wrote. Download Argenziano24a.ltr"

Progress Energy cleared one of its last hurdles Monday when the Florida Department of Environmental Protection gave the utility permission to continue with its plans for a 2,200 megawatt nuclear power plant in Levy County. The "conditions of certification" report by FDEP was one of the final steps Progress Energy had to clear before starting the $17 billion project. The plant, which is slated for completion in 2017, will generate enough power to serve an estimated 1.4 million Florida homes. Progress Energy already has about 1.7 million Florida customers, with about 62,000 in Marion County and 4,700 in Alachua County. The Levy County plant will pump about 122 million gallons of water per day from the Cross Florida Barge Canal to cool steam created in the process of making electricity.

"As the oil off Louisiana's coast continues to threaten wildlife, tourism, and the fishing industry, nuclear power plants along Florida's Gulf coast are also on edge. Progress Energy spokeswoman Susan Grant says that while forecasts look good now, they are definitely preparing for the worst at locations like their Crystal River Nuclear Plant. Grant says their coastal plants are already somewhat prepared because of standard precautions already in place. She says Progress Energy is taking no chances considering the potentially devastating effects of oil entering their plants. Aside from the Crystal River Nuclear complex in Citrus County, Progress Energy is making preperations at their Anclote Plant in Pasco County and their Bartlow Plant in Pinellas County."

The possible cancellation of a nuclear power plant tender in Turkey has disappointed Russians. 'It is very disappointing because we expected progress after the official visits,' economist Natalia Ulchenko tells the Daily News News that Turkey is going to cancel the tender won by a Russian-led consortium to build a nuclear power plant has disappointed Russians. Energy Minister Taner Yıldız signaled the cancellation of the nuclear power plant tender Monday. "We will not send the report related to the nuclear plant project to the Cabinet," Yıldız told reporters. "It is very disappointing for us because we expected progress in regard to energy cooperation between the two countries after the official visits," said Natalia Ulchenko, a professor of economics and the head of the Turkish research department at the Oriental Studies Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The possible cancellation of a nuclear power plant tender in Turkey has disappointed Russians. 'It is very disappointing because we expected progress after the official visits,' economist Natalia Ulchenko tells the Daily News News that Turkey is going to cancel the tender won by a Russian-led consortium to build a nuclear power plant has disappointed Russians. Energy Minister Taner Yıldız signaled the cancellation of the nuclear power plant tender Monday. "We will not send the report related to the nuclear plant project to the Cabinet," Yıldız told reporters. "It is very disappointing for us because we expected progress in regard to energy cooperation between the two countries after the official visits," said Natalia Ulchenko, a professor of economics and the head of the Turkish research department at the Oriental Studies Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Almost every plan for limiting carbon dioxide output includes keeping old nuclear plants running. But as those plants age, they turn up new problems. The latest is at a plant owned by Progress Energy in Crystal River, Fla., where a gap was found inside the thick concrete of a containment dome. Diagram A schematic of the void was provided by Progress Energy. The plant had been temporarily shut in late September so workers could replace the aging steam generators - which required them to cut a hole in the dome. (The steam generators at many aging nuclear reactors were intended to last the life of the plant, so no way for swapping them out was designed.)

Almost every plan for limiting carbon dioxide output includes keeping old nuclear plants running. But as those plants age, they turn up new problems. The latest is at a plant owned by Progress Energy in Crystal River, Fla., where a gap was found inside the thick concrete of a containment dome. Diagram A schematic of the void was provided by Progress Energy. The plant had been temporarily shut in late September so workers could replace the aging steam generators - which required them to cut a hole in the dome. (The steam generators at many aging nuclear reactors were intended to last the life of the plant, so no way for swapping them out was designed.)

Areva Inc has announced a five-year deal that will see it become the comprehensive supplier of services and products for Progress Energy's four nuclear power plants. The deal will see Areva provide refuelling and outage services, replace and repair plant equipment, and provide engineering and maintenance support plus other technical services to Progress Energy's plants in North and South Carolina and Florida.

A battle between clean energy and renewable energy is about to ensue in the state Legislature. Sen. Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs, has introduced Senate Bill 2490, a measure requiring that 20 percent of the power provided by Florida electric utilities be made with renewable resources such as wind and solar. The standard is supported by Gov. Charlie Crist and recommended by the Florida Public Service Commission. Sen. Charlie Dean, R-Inverness, recently introduced an alternative measure, SB 2328, that would require utilities to get 20 percent of their power from clean energy sources, including nuclear, by 2020. Progress Energy and Florida Power & Light, the state's largest producers of nuclear power, have lobbied hard for a clean standard.