Duke Energy officials have decided to retire a controversial nuclear facility in Florida. They say it will be more cost effective to shut down the Crystal River facility than to repair it. Regulatory leaders in North Carolina and Florida discussed Crystal River's future during the merger of Duke Energy and Progress Energy. Spokesman Mike Hughes says the utility used a repair scenario analysis to make the decision.
"We believe that the overall risks involved in continuing to pursue a repair..those risks are very, very high," Hughes said. "And the risk if failure or the potential for failure could increase the cost and the schedule dramatically."
Hughes says repair estimates ranged from $900 million to about $3.4 billion. Jim Warren of energy watchdog group NC WARN says he would like to see the shutdown of the Crystal River nuclear facility lead Duke Energy to consider more investment in wind or solar energy as an alternative.
