Nuclear Repairs No Easy Sale as Cheap Gas Hits Utilities
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A damaged Florida nuclear plant that spurred a boardroom coup at Duke Energy Corp. in July risks getting scrapped unless the power company can justify spending more than $1.3 billion on the costliest-ever U.S. atomic repair.
Duke’s decision, a signpost for utilities from Japan to Belgium considering shuttering reactors, hinges on natural gas. Near-record low prices in the U.S. make new gas-fired generation look more economical than fixing the 35-year-old Crystal River Unit 3 station. The question for Duke, the biggest U.S. power company, is whether to bet gas will stay low for decades.