Life extension to 2053 for nuclear plants in Virginia (Kimberly Pierceall) USofA

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Dominion wants to keep Surry nuclear plant open through at least 2053

By Kimberly Pierceall The Virginian-Pilot Oct 16, 2018

Dominion Energy is sticking with its plan for the Surry nuclear power plant.

The utility told federal regulators in 2015 that it intended to keep the plant open through at least 2053, and on Tuesday, it officially applied for another 20-year extension with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The utility has said it also plans to seek a 20-year extension for a second nuclear plant, the North Anna Power Station in Louisa County, east of Charlottesville.

The Surry plant, situated southwest of Williamsburg on the other side of the James River, has the capability of powering 419,000 homes, according to the utility. About 31 percent of all the electricity produced by Dominion is nuclear – down from about 41 1

percent as of 2013. In that time, the company’s natural gas share has grown from 20 percent to 30 percent as more gas power plants have been built.

Dan Stoddard, Dominion Energy’s chief nuclear officer, said Tuesday that keeping Surry and its North Anna plants operational is the best option for customers economically and environmentally. The cost to maintain the plants and extend the licenses, which could amount to as much as $4 billion over the next decade, is expected to be passed on to Virginia ratepayers.

Elsewhere in the country, multiple companies have let their nuclear plants' operating licenses expire because the cost to maintain the facilities was so large and because natural gas production has risen.

According to the Energy Information Administration, six plants have retired or announced plans to do so in the past five years. Stoddard said the situation is different in Virginia.

“Economically, it’s the right thing to do for our customers,” he said, adding that nuclear power is essential to the company’s environmental strategy. Dominion has said its nuclear power production is equivalent to 100,000 acres of photo-voltaic solar panels.

Dominion has been through license renewal before, in 2003, and the process can take 18 months and includes rigorous testing and inspections by the NRC. “They’re operating better now than they ever have in their history,” Stoddard said of the plants, noting the regular improvements that have been made. Among those is the installation of a carbon fiber lining inside the cooling lines that take in water from the James River, switching from analog to digital control systems and refurbishing the plant’s generators.

In the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster caused by a tsunami in Japan in 2011, the utility re-evaluated all of its plants for hazards such as seismic, earthquakes and flooding and added flexible response equipment that can maintain electricity and water sources for the reactors if need be.

The plant employs about 915 people who earn an average salary of $90,200, according to the company.

Kimberly Pierceall, 757-446-2588, kimberly.pierceall@pilotonline.com Kimberly Pierceall Reporter Kimberly Pierceall has been covering business news for The Virginian-Pilot since venturing east in early 2016 after writing for the Associated Press in Las Vegas and the Orange County Register and The Press-Enterprise in Southern California.

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