I have mentioned Duke Energy in several past posts. The headquarters of Duke Energy is located in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is the biggest electric power holding company in the United States and it also has assets in Canada and Latin America. The fifty eight thousand megawatts that it generates is distributed to seven million customers in a territory of over one hundred thousand square miles. Duke generates electricity from hydro, oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear energy. Duke Energy owns and operates four nuclear power plants in North Carolina, two plants in South Carolina and one plant in Florida. A total of twelve nuclear reactors are located at the seven power plants. Duke has applied for constructions permits and licenses for four additional reactors.
In 1999, Duke was the target of an enforcement action by the EPA because they were trying to get out of having to get permits under the Clean Air Act for modifications to old coal burning power plants. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court and Duke was ordered to comply with the Clean Air Act. In 2002, Duke Energy was forced to restate their financial reports due to false or incorrect accounting. As of 2005, Duke Energy was rated as 13th in list of polluting energy producing companies. Environmental activists have opposed and are opposing new energy plant projects of Duke Energy. Duke has been criticized for spending seventeen million on lobbying, not paying any taxes and receiving over two hundred million dollars in tax rebates while making five billion four hundred million dollars in profits in the period for 2008 to 2010.
Duke has decided to shut down the Florida reactor at the Crystal River plant because the required repairs would cost too much. Florida has a law which allows utility companies such as Duke to charge customers for construction of new nuclear reactors and repairs of existing nuclear reactors before the work even begins. As the law is currently written, the utility can keep the additional money collected even if the work is never done. Florida is trying to revoke that part of the law. With the decision to close the Crystal River reactor, Duke is going to refund some of the extra money that it had collected. There is a battle between Duke and a nuclear insurance company over how much money the insurance company will have to pay customers for the extra cost of electricity after the Crystal River reactor was shut down.
Duke’s Shearon Harris nuclear reactor has been the center of controversy. Between 1999 and 2003 the reactor had to be shut down twelve times. The national average for U.S. nuclear plants would be two or three shutdowns in a four year period. Studies suggested that the spent fuel pool was the greatest danger at Shearon Harris and that there was a possibility that it could over-heat and burn. Some critics claim that Shearon Harris is the most dangerous nuclear reactor in the United States. This year, a small crack forced the shutdown of the reactor. The crack should have been detected when the reactor was shut down for refueling last year and the NRC is investigating. Duke has halted work on the construction of two new reactors at Shearon Harris because of the current soft electricity market.
A watchdog group is demanding that North Carolina utility regulators levy at least five million dollars in penalties against Duke Energy for over-charging its customers millions of dollars and spending money on campaign contributions and sponsoring a professional basketball team. Duke Energy has a track record of over-charging customers, neglecting nuclear power plant maintenance, polluting the environment, trying to skirt environmental regulations, avoiding taxes, and other types of corporate bad behavior. This is not a company that I trust when it comes to the safe operation of nuclear power plants.
