Bill to fix Florida nuke plant $250M, rising

Sometimes, it pays to have insurance.

Raleigh-based Progress Energy has incurred costs of $250 million, and counting, due to a yearlong outage caused by a crack in the outer wall of the company’s Crystal River nuclear plant in Florida. But the company is insured for costs of up to $480 million.

"We do not expect to reach that," says company spokesman Mike Hughes.

Should there be any costs not covered by insurance, they could be passed on to Florida customers, says Hughes. The company has not yet made any filings on the matter with Florida regulators.

As of June 30, Progress had spent $166 million in replacement power costs and $79 million in repair costs. The company replaced the power output that was lost due to the outage by boosting the output of its other plants as well as by purchasing power on the open market. The company has no projections on how much replacement power and repair work will ultimately cost.

The company hopes to bring the plant back online in the fourth quarter.

Federal regulators say the plant did not pose a safety risk while it was operating. A Nuclear Regulatory Commission review of the plant and Progress’ actions to date have determined that the crack in the 42-inch-thick concrete outer wall occurred after the plant was shut down for scheduled maintenance. Roger Hannah, an NRC spokesman, says a final inspection report should be ready within the next month.

Crystal River, which was commissioned in 1976, is shut down every 24 months for refueling and maintenance work. In Sept. 2009, the plant was scheduled to be shut down for the remainder of the year for work that included replacing two steam generators. The replacement required cutting a hole in the structure to remove the old generators. But as the utility prepared to replace the equipment, workers discovered the crack, or delamination, in the outer structure.

Read the full story in the Triangle Business Journal.