Future cloudy for state's nuclear plants
11:08 PM 9/06/03
Judy Newman Business reporter

With the New York to Michigan blackout still fresh in people's minds, and battles under way over new transmission lines and power plants, Wisconsin's aging nuclear power plants have gotten little attention.

That's about to change.

During the next six months, utility officials will decide if they want to extend the life of the state's largest nuclear power plant, Point Beach, from its current 40-year license to 60 years.

But at least one consumer group says it's time to scrap nuclear power in Wisconsin.

"It's a health and safety issue," said Steve Hiniker, executive director of the Citizens' Utility Board in Madison.

Point Beach, near Two Rivers, is one of two nuclear plants that, together, supply about 20 percent of the electricity in the state. Owned by We Energies of Milwaukee, Point Beach's two units generate 1,034 megawatts. Kewaunee, about five miles north along Lake Michigan, produces 542 megawatts and is owned by Wisconsin Public Service Corp. of Green Bay and Wisconsin Power & Light Co. of Madison.

A third nuclear plant near La Crosse, set up as a small demonstration project in the late 1960s, was shut down in 1987.

Nuclear power is "a very important part of Wisconsin's (energy) portfolio," said state Public Service Commissioner Ave Bie.

Deciding the future of nuclear power in the state won't be easy, though.

There is still no federal nuclear waste disposal site. Meanwhile, Point Beach is working through problems that drew two unusual "red" findings - the most serious alert - from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

Supporters, though, say electricity from nuclear plants costs less than electricity from coal or natural gas fired plants. In addition, nuclear plants emit no hazardous air pollution and need no new building permits.

Point Beach's two units were built in the early 1970s, and their licenses expire in October 2010 and March 2013. Kewaunee's license runs out in December 2013. But the renewal process is long and expensive, so decisions will have to be made on applications for both plants over the next year and a half.

Point Beach unit 1 is first in line. If We Energies decides to try to keep it running, it will likely apply for an extension in February 2004.

The utility is still analyzing the effects of aging, said David Weaver, We Energies nuclear asset manager. "To date, we have found nothing that would preclude us from submitting an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for license renewal," he said.

But CUB's Hiniker says Point Beach and Kewaunee ought to be retired when their licenses run out.

"These are old reactors," said Hiniker. "You have (equipment) aging questions, and just given the safety record, particularly at Point Beach over the last several years, it's been horrible.

"It's too risky of a proposition to keep it running," he added.

The NRC has issued only three or four red findings over the past several years. Another plant that's drawn the designation, for example, is the Davis-Besse nuclear plant near Toledo, Ohio. Davis-Besse has been shut down since February 2002 because leaky tubes caused corrosion that ate away six inches of steel in a portion of the reactor vessel head, leaving only a stainless steel liner to contain the reactor's temperature and pressure.

(The reactor vessel is the container that holds nuclear fuel.)

The physical damage is not all that's being fixed at Davis-Besse, said Jan Strasma, public affairs officer for the NRC regional office in Lisle, Ill. Most supervisors who were in charge while the corrosion occurred have either been fired or reassigned, he said, and the staff has been doing "an extensive amount of work to improve the safety culture of the plant."

Point Beach and Kewaunee use the same technology as Davis-Besse, a pressurized water reactor. No corrosion has been found at the Wisconsin reactors, but We Energies is asking the state Public Service Commission for permission to install new reactor vessel heads at Point Beach.

The problems that sparked the two red findings at Point Beach date to 2001, when staff at the plant found that a backup feedwater system might not work under certain circumstances. That has "high safety significance," Strasma said, because the system is used to remove heat from the reactor in case of an accident, "so it has an important safety function."

The NRC is in the midst of a three-pronged review to ensure: