( By Carrington Dillon )
Take a look at this bit of information. This news article goes along perfectly with one of the counter-points from our Debate Tools page that deals with power uprates over the lifetime of a plant.
Exelon plans upgrades to Clinton nuclear reactor
Exelon Corp. is planning on spending $3.5 Billion in power uprates to their nuclear fleet over the next eight years. The announcement was made at the Clinton Nuclear Plant near Springfield, Illinois, although Exelon currently has a fleet of 17 reactors online–one of the largest in the world. Power uprates involve installing upgrades that will increase the maximum power level at which a power plant can operate. All power uprates must be approved by the NRC. Click here to learn more about the nuclear power uprate process from the NRC.
The upgrades will increase Exelon’s power output by approximately 1,300 to 1,500 MW–the equivalent of adding a new generation reactor. The uprates will provide and sustain thousands of jobs for in-house and contract design engineers (like myself), as well as currently employed site staff at all 17 reactors.
This may seem like a lot of money up-front, but successful companies like Exelon don’t just throw money down the drain. This is a sign that Exelon believes that the nuclear power business will be profitable for years to come.
Out of curiosity, I traveled over to Exelon’s website to find a map of their reactors in the United States. Instead, I found some very impressive information shown below:
“Charles “Chip” Pardee is the President and Chief Nuclear Officer, Exelon Nuclear. He leads Exelon Nuclear’s 17 generating units, which produced a record of 132.3 million net megawatt-hours of electricity in 2007. The fleet also achieved an average capacity factor of 94.5 percent, the seventh year in a row the capacity factor was more than 92 percent.
Safety and environmental statistics at Exelon Nuclear plants increased along with production in 2007. The 10 plants recorded their lowest industrial safety accident rate and number of unplanned shutdowns ever.
At the same time, the plants prevented 121 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions by eliminating the need for an equivalent amount of coal-based generation.
When compared with natural gas generation, Exelon Nuclear prevented the release of 63 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. The carbon avoided by the Exelon Nuclear fleet in 2007 is equivalent to the emissions of more than 23 million passenger cars, nearly double the number of cars in Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey combined.”
I recently had the pleasure to listen to Mr. Pardee speak at the NA-YGN National Conference in Washington, DC. After reading this I’d just like to say, keep up the great work, Chip.
