Omaha, Neb. power district to amortize nuclear costs over 10 yrs

Sept 25 (Reuters) - The Omaha Public Power District (OPPD)
board of directors has approved a plan to amortize the cost of
returning to service the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant in
Nebraska over 10 years.
The board wanted to level out the impact of recovery costs
to OPPD customers while ensuring current and future customers
share in the costs of the plant's continued operations, the
power district said in a release last week.
OPPD projected recovery operation and maintenance would cost
$113 million for 2012 and $30 million for 2013, respectively,
and 2012 capital costs at $21 million.
Recovery costs include operational and maintenance expenses
for the restart and recovery activities that began in 2012.
The 478-megawatt Fort Calhoun plant shut in April 2011 for a
planned refueling outage and remained down due to damage caused
by the Missouri River flooding.
The reactor is located about 19 miles (31 km) north of
Omaha, Nebraska, along the Missouri River.
OPPD said it plans to heat up the plant by Dec. 1, which
means closing the reactor vessel, but not start up the reactor.
It cannot restart until the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC) gives approval.
The plant was expected to restart by the end of 2012 or by
early 2013.
In August, OPPD said it hired Chicago-based Exelon Corp
, the biggest nuclear power operator in the United
States, to manage Fort Calhoun for the duration of the station's
operating license, which expires in 2033.
Exelon started assisting OPPD with the recovery of Fort
Calhoun in January 2012.
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PLANT BACKGROUND/TIMELINE
STATE: Nebraska
County: Washington
TOWN: Fort Calhoun, about 65 miles (100 km) northeast
of Lincoln, the state capital
OPERATOR: Exelon Corp
OWNER(S): Omaha Public Power District
CAPACITY: 478 MW
UNIT(S) : Combustion Engineering two-loop pressurized water
reactor
FUEL: Nuclear
DISPATCH: Baseload
COST: $754.65 million (2007 U.S. dollars) according to the
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
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TIMELINE:
1966 - Unit commenced operations
1973 - Unit began commercial production
2003 - A 20-year license extension was granted
Aug 2033 - Unit license expires