Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant

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Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant
Data
Country United States
Location East Shoreham, New York
Coordinates 40°57′40″N 72°51′54″W / 40.960975, -72.86504
Operator Long Island Lighting Company
Built 1973-1984
Start of commercial operation 1985-1989 (low level testing but not commercial generation)
Ceased operation 1989
Reactors
Reactors shut down 1 (820 MW)
Power
Capacity  MW
Status Decommissioned
Other details
Cost $6 Billion

The Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant (also known as the Wading River Nuclear Power Plant) was a completed $6 billion General Electric nuclear boiling water reactor located adjacent to the Wading River in East Shoreham, New York that was closed by protests in 1989 without generating any commercial electrical power.

Contents

[edit] Overview

The plant was conceived by the Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO) and was built between 1973 and 1984. Its location on Long Island Sound — near the mouth of the small stream that forms the border between Brookhaven and Riverhead towns — was largely rural at the time (although within 60 miles of Manhattan).

It drew increasingly intense opposition after the 1979 Three Mile Island and the 1986 Chernobyl accidents, resulting in delays and cost increases before New York Governor Mario Cuomo pulled the plug in a state takeover of the plant. The state would ultimately take over LILCO also.

In contrast, a virtual twin, the 660 MWe Millstone 1, was ordered in 1966 across the Long Island Sound in Connecticut. It was completed for $101 million and became fully operational within 5 years of receiving a construction permit, producing power until July 21, 1998.

After completion, Shoreham received a low power license and underwent low power testing, but never produced any commercial electric power, due to the fact that New York Governor Mario Cuomo's representatives did not sign the Emergency Evacuation Plan. This meant that it could not receive a full power license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

On May 19, 1989, LILCO agreed not to operate the plant in a deal with the state under which most of the $6 billion cost of the unused plant was passed along to Long Island residents.[1] The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), headed by Richard Kessel, was created in 1986 specifically to buy the plant from LILCO (which it did in 1992). The plant was fully decommissioned in 1994.

The electricity that would have been generated by the plant is now produced by fossil fuels instead.[1][2][3]

[edit] History

[edit] Proposal

LILCO President John J. Tuohy announced plans for the plant on April 13, 1965 during a stockholder's meeting.[4]

The plant was to be the first commercial nuclear power plant on Long Island and initially had little formal opposition, as Brookhaven already had multiple research nuclear reactors at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, about 20 miles south of Shoreham.

LILCO purchased a 455-acre (1.84 km²) site in an area which was sparsely populated at the time. They announced the plant would produce 540 megawatts, cost between $65 and $75 million and would be online in 1973.[5][6]

At the time, demand for electricity was increasing more than 10 percent per year on Long Island and the Atomic Energy Commission was strongly pushing all power companies to use nuclear power.[5]

In 1968, LILCO increased the size of the plant from 540 to 820 megawatts and announced plans to build two more reactors in Jamesport. Those reactors never got beyond the drawing board stage but this helped delay and increase the costs of the plant.[5][6]

In 1969 LILCO announced plans for a reactor at Lloyd Harbor in Huntington (town), New York — closer to Manhattan in a more densely populated area. Residents managed to get it killed by 1970, setting the stage for opposition to any nuclear power plant on Long Island.[5]

[edit] Construction

Construction began in 1973 but cost overruns caused its estimated final cost to approach $2 billion by the late 1970s, due to low worker productivity and design changes ordered by the NRC.[5] Organized crime was also accused of stirring problems with local labor unions.[7] and it was target of a CBS 60 Minutes probe, which aired 24 March 1985.[citation needed]

[edit] Mounting protests

The first small anti-Shoreham demonstration took place in June 1976. On June 3, 1979, following the Three Mile Island incident, 15,000 protesters gathered in the largest demonstration in Long Island history.[5] 600 were arrested as they scaled the plant's fences.[8]

LILCO's problems were compounded by NRC rules in the wake of Three Mile Island (in which no one was harmed, but evacuations of thousands of people were planned), requiring that operators of nuclear plants work out evacuation plans in cooperation with state and local governments. Politicians from local entities nearly unanimously joined the opposition,[citation needed] saying their communities could not be evacuated quickly in case of an accident, as any land evacuation off the island would involve traveling at least 60 miles back through New York City to reach its bridges.[5]

Among the groups joining the chorus for closing the plant were Lloyd Harbor Study Group, the Farm Bureau, The Long Island Safe Energy Coalition and its newsletter Chain Reaction, Safe'n Sound with its Sound Times newspaper, the S.H.A.D. Alliance (modeled on New Hampshire's Clamshell Alliance), and the Shoreham Opponents Coalition.

[edit] Closure

On February 17, 1983, the Suffolk County Legislature announced with a 15-1 vote that the county could not be safely evacuated.[5] Newly elected governor of New York, Mario Cuomo, ordered state officials not to approve any LILCO-sponsored evacuation plan.[5]

The plant was completed in 1984. In 1985 LILCO received federal permission for low-power 5 percent tests.

Confidence in LILCO took a hit in 1985 when it took nearly two weeks to restore power to all of the island following Hurricane Gloria.

Between 1985 and 1989, as local communities continued to refuse to sign the necessary evacuation plan, LILCO proposed asking the U.S. Congress to approve a law for the evacuation — a move which went nowhere.[specify]

On February 28, 1989 Cuomo and LILCO announced a plan to decommission the plant, which involved the state taking over the plant and then attaching a 3 percent surcharge to Long Island electric bills for 30 years to pay off the $6 billion price tag.[5][9]

[edit] Aftermath

It cost $186 million to decommission the reactor, with the radioactive materials license ending in May 1995. The low-pressure turbine rotors are currently in use at the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station. Lilco paid Philadelphia Electric Company $50 million to take its fuel to the Limerick Nuclear Power Plant.[10]

The debacle lead to the state takeover of LILCO itself in 1998 as it became the Long Island Power Authority. LIPA now has the fourth highest rates in the United States.[11]

The electric transmission infrastructure has remained, connecting it to the Long Island electric grid. In 2002 the Cross Sound Cable, a submarine power cable capable of transmitting 330 MW, was laid from the Shoreham plant across Long Island Sound to New Haven, Connecticut. During the Northeast Blackout of 2003 the cable was to ease the effects of the blackout on Long Island. After extended negotiations with Connecticut the cable was put into permanent use.[12]

In 2005, two 100 foot high wind turbines with 25 foot blades were erected at the plant and attached to the electric grid, generating a peak power of 50 kilowatts each (1/8000 of the power that the nuclear plant would have generated).[13]

Current controversies in the area include the location of a large project called Broadwater Energy off the coast of Shoreham, in which liquefied natural gas would be transferred from ships to pipelines at a floating platform, and a proposal to build wind power plants off Jones Beach, scrapped for economic and aesthetic reasons.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b McCracken, Samuel. "Shoreham and the environmentalist guerrillas", National Review, 1988-06-24, pp. 14. Retrieved on 2007-08-30.  alternate copy
  2. ^ Jaffe, Herbert. "The Shoreham Plant as a Potential Lifesaver", New York Times, 1983-11-05. Retrieved on 2007-08-30. 
  3. ^ Rob (2005-11-11). Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant. Retrieved on 2007-08-30.
  4. ^ LILCO History - fundinguniverse.com - Retrieved November 17, 2007
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Fagin, Dan. "Lights Out at Shoreham", Newsday, 2007-05-29. Retrieved on 2007-08-30. 
  6. ^ a b Grimston, Malcolm (December 2005). "Shoreham - a case study". The Importance of Politics to Nuclear New Build, London: Chatham House. Retrieved on 2007-08-30. 
  7. ^ Karl Grossman's Power Crazy, Is LILCO Turning Wading River into America's Chernobyl? (New York: Evergreen/Grove Press, 1986)
  8. ^ Shoreham Action Is One of Largest Held Worldwide; 15,000 Protest L.I. Atom Plant; 600 Seized 600 Arrested on L.I. as 15,000 Protest at Nuclear Plant Nuclear Supporter on Hand Governor Stresses Safety Thousands Protest Worldwide - New York Times - June 4, 1979
  9. ^ IN BRIEF; Court Declines Appeal Of Shoreham Ruling - New York Times - January 26, 2003
  10. ^ nukeworker.com
  11. ^ http://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/releases/june06/060606.htm Long Island Households to Pay $300 More for Electricity This Year, LIPA's Costs Now Higher Than LILCO's - osc.state.ny.us - June 6, 2006]
  12. ^ http://www.lipower.org/newscenter/pr/2004/june25.csc.html GOVERNOR PATAKI HAILS AGREEMENT ON CROSS SOUND CABLE AND GIVES ORDER TO ENERGIZE CABLE AND MAKE IT OPERATIONAL
  13. ^ LIPA Dedicates Two Wind Turbines at Shoreham Located Near Defunct Nuclear Plant, LIPA’s New Land-Based Turbines Symbolize LI’s Energy Future: Renewables - lipower.org - January 25, 2005 - Retrieved December 17, 2007

[edit] External links

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