Expert: Which U.S. Nuclear Reactors Are At Greatest Risk Of Early Retirement?

In Wake of San Onofre, Crystal River, Kewaunee, Shearon Harris Shutdowns or Abandonments, Cooper to Detail Nuclear Reactors Under the Greatest Pressure to Close Down; Reactors in CA, CT, FL, IL, IA, KS, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, SC, TN, TX, VT, and WI on "Most At Risk" List.

WASHINGTON, July 16, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A groundbreaking new analysis to be released at 1:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday (July 17, 2013) by economic analyst Mark Cooper will show that more than three dozen U.S. reactors in 23 states are at the greatest risk of early retirement, including nine reactors that exhibit the largest number of risk factors. 

The Cooper paper uses three reports from Wall Street analysts -- Moody's, Credit Suisse and UBS – and a detailed analysis of past early retirements to identify risk factors that appear to have caused the early retirements in the past year.  Cooper will offer the first systematic framework for evaluating the nuclear reactor early-retirement risk, identifying 39 U.S. nuclear reactors that exhibit two or more of the risk factors, including nine that have the largest number of risk factors.

The 23 states with at-risk nuclear reactors are:  California; Connecticut; Florida; Illinois (including one of the most at risk in the nation); Iowa; Kansas; Maryland; Massachusetts; Michigan (including one of the most at risk in the nation;  Minnesota; Mississippi; Missouri; Nebraska (including one of the most at risk in the nation); New Hampshire; New Jersey (including one  of the most at risk in the nation); New York (include four of the most at risk in the nation); Ohio; Pennsylvania; South Carolina; Tennessee; Texas; Vermont (including one of the most at risk in the nation; and Wisconsin.

Speakers on the 1:30 p.m. EDT news event on July 17, 2013 will include:

• Mark Cooper, senior fellow for economic analysis, Institute for Energy and the Environment, Vermont Law School, and author of "Policy Challenges of Nuclear Reactor Construction, Cost Escalation and Crowding Out Alternatives" (2009); and
• Peter A. Bradford, adjunct professor at the Vermont Law School, a former member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and a former utility commission chair in New York and Maine.

With a large number of reactors poised on the razor's edge of economic abandonment, the chances are high that any one of a number of the key factors – significant repair costs, retrofits to improve safety, stiff competition from lower-cost energy alternatives, rising costs of operation – will push the owners to retire the reactors early for economic reasons.   As Cooper will note, the same factors call into question the economic value of license extensions and reactor uprates.  

TO PARTICIPATE:  You can join this live, phone-based news conference (with full, two-way Q&A) at 1:30 p.m. EDT on July 17, 2013 by dialing 1 (800) 860-2442. Ask for the "most at-risk U.S. nuclear reactors" news event.

CAN'T PARTICIPATE?:  A streaming audio replay of this news event will be available by 6 p.m. EDT on July 17, 2013 at http://216.30.191.148/atriskreactors.html.

SOURCE Mark Cooper, Vermont Law School