November 02, 2015

FitzPatrick Power Plant to Close by 2017

By ExchangeMonitor

Delete this; enter story here.Entergy on Monday said it would close its James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in New York state in late 2016 or early 2017. The news came less than a month after Entergy announced the upcoming shutdown of its Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station in Massachusetts.

The company in a press release cited “the continuing deteriorating economics of the facility” as forcing the shutdown. Specifically, the Oswego County plant is being hurt by low natural gas prices that are biting into revenue, the elevated expense of operating the plant, and “a poor market design that fails to properly compensate nuclear generators like FitzPatrick for their benefits.”

"Given the financial challenges our merchant power plants face from sustained wholesale power price declines and other unfavorable market conditions, we have been assessing each asset," Leo Denault, Entergy chairman and CEO, said in the release. "As part of this review, we previously announced the closure of the Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station in Massachusetts and have now decided that despite good operational performance, market conditions require us to also close the FitzPatrick nuclear plant.”

The FitzPatrick plant employs more than 600 workers. About half will lose their jobs when the shutdown occurs, with more layoffs expected later, the Syracuse Post-Standard reported.

Entergy spokeswoman Patricia Kakridas said the company must file a post-shutdown decommissioning activities report with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission no more than two years after a facility is permanently closed; the document will include details of the planned decommissioning operations, along with the schedule and projected cost. Entergy as of Sept. 30 had over $728 million in its decommissioning trust fund for the FitzPatrick plant. That amount meets the NRC’s funding assurance requirements, Kakridas said by email.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other New York officials blasted Entergy over the closure. “Good corporate citizenship must appreciate that there are many factors that count as the ‘bottom line,’” Cuomo said in a prepared statement. “The State of New York will pursue every legal and regulatory avenue in an attempt to stop Entergy’s actions and its callous disregard for their skilled and loyal workforce.”

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