Copyright 1999 The Hartford Courant Company
THE
HARTFORD COURANT
July 6, 1999 Tuesday, 1N GREATER MIDDLETOWN
SECTION: TOWN NEWS; Pg. B1
LENGTH: 549 words
HEADLINE:
NUKE-PLANT CONVERSION STUDIED
BYLINE: GARY LIBOW;
Courant Staff Writer
DATELINE: HADDAM --
BODY:
Experts have begun the long process of
conducting studies and negotiations to determine if the Connecticut Yankee
nuclear power plant can be transformed into a gas-fired electric generating
plant.
Bechtel, the California-based corporation that Connecticut Yankee
picked to manage decommissioning of the Haddam Neck plant and help determine the
possibility of reuse, is analyzing safety issues. For the project to proceed,
the federal government must be convinced that bringing natural gas to a location
where spent nuclear fuel is being stored would not compromise safety.
Connecticut Yankee expects to present its safety report by September.
The report will analyze the chances of an accident involving stored nuclear fuel
should the natural gas combust in a worst-case scenario.
Constellation
Power, a subsidiary of the Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., has begun its own
feasibility studies. Constellation, which operates reused nuclear sites, is
evaluating the chances of the government granting the permit needed to convert
the plant. Furthermore, the company has asked Haddam about the possibility of
tax breaks that Constellation claims are needed to make the project workable.
First Selectman Keith Ainsworth said Friday that the two sides have not
talked hard numbers yet. Constellation had initially expressed interest in a
50-percent tax break over two decades, frontloaded to minimize taxes in the
early years, he said. Ainsworth said he countered with a tax incentive in the
"single to low double digits."
If all required permits and financing can
be obtained, Connecticut Yankee envisions starting construction in late 2000 and
putting the plant into operation in 2003, according to Nuclear Regulatory
Commission records.
Preliminary studies conducted by Connecticut Yankee
have suggested the enterprise could be profitable, according to NRC records.
Bechtel has presented a conceptual layout for the site featuring an
electric generating plant of between 500 to 800 megawatts, records say. Under
the conceptual plans, the plant would be composed of two or three natural gas
turbines and a steam turbine operating in combination to provide high thermal
efficiency.
Fuel for the prospective plant, the NRC states, would be
provided by a large high- pressure natural gas line, with two large oil tanks
for a reserve. Some of the nuclear plant systems would be reused, such as
transmission lines and the water-intake structure.
Whether to proceed
with the extensive permit process "is ultimately a CY decision," Connecticut
Yankee spokeswoman Kelley Smith said. "They have to ensure there would be
absolutely no impact from any type of accident that would impact the fuel -- no
matter how the fuel is stored."
In the best-case scenario, Smith said,
the spent nuclear fuel could be transported to Yucca Mountain,
Nev., by 2007. The federal Department of Energy expects that fuel storage will
begin there in 2010.
Bechtel spokeswoman Sarah Snyder said her
corporation has been hired to oversee the decommissioning and to present
Connecticut Yankee with recommendations about the feasibility of building a
power generation plant on the site.
Calling the process "long and
difficult," Snyder said it will take another year until the final assessments
are completed.
LOAD-DATE: July 7, 1999
