NPPD decides against Cooper uprate

A proposed power uprate of the single-unit Cooper nuclear power plant has been shelved after Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) concluded that it could not justify the expense of the project.

An extended power uprate - which would involve equipment upgrades - had been under consideration since late 2012 to raise the boiling water reactor's generating capacity from 800 MWe to some 946 MWe.

However, having conducted a detailed feasibility study for the proposed uprate, NPPD's board has now voted not to proceed with the project. A more in-depth estimate by management for the uprate had raised the price from $289 million to $409 million, the company said.

Last week, Xcel Energy restarted its Monticello single-unit plant after an extended power uprate which increased its generating capacity from 600 MWe to 671 MWe. However, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has ordered an investigation into delays and cost overruns in the project. Xcel estimated the cost of the project to be $320 million when it began in 2008, but the actual cost came to $655 million.

In June, Exelon confirmed that it will not be going through with capacity uprate projects at the LaSalle and Limerick nuclear power plants due to market conditions. Each plant has two reactors and the total of the uprates across all four would have been 370 MWe.
[link to www.world-nuclear-news.org]
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