(Reuters) - U.S. energy company Exelon Corp said Wednesday it will shut the last reactor at the Three Mile Island power plant, site of the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history, on Sept. 30 due to legislative inaction on a nuclear subsidy bill in Pennsylvania.
“With only three legislative session days(議会開催日？) remaining in May and no action taken to advance(法案を提示する) House Bill(下院法案) 11 or Senate Bill(上院法案) 510(数字は何だ？？法案番号みたいなもの？), it is clear a state policy solution will not be enacted before June 1,” Exelon said in a release, referring to the proposed nuclear subsidy bills(原子力補助法案).
Exelon said it had to make a decision by June 1 to purchase fuel for the plant for its next operating cycle. The company announced in May 2017 that it would shut the 45-year-old reactor in 2019 without policy reform to support the plant.
Analysts at Height Capital Markets(ワシントンD.C.のファイナンシャル プランナー https://www.heightllc.com/) said in a report that the shutdown, which will come 40 years after the 1979 meltdown of another reactor at the plant, will increase pressure on Pennsylvania legislators to pass a nuclear subsidy bill in the autumn to protect the state’s remaining eight reactors from early closures.
In recent years, electricity prices have been depressed by cheap natural gas from shale fields(shale fields：頁岩部層 日本だとnatural gas from shale fieldsでシェールガスと云っちゃう？), including the Marcellus in Pennsylvania, and increased use of renewable power. This has made some nuclear plants uneconomical, and forced generators to shut several reactors over the past five years.
Several states, including New York, Illinois, Connecticut and New Jersey have already adopted nuclear subsidies to keep their reactors in service to help meet carbon reduction goals.
Lawmakers in Pennsylvania and Ohio are considering legislation, while officials in U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration have proposed programs to keep nuclear and coal plants operating longer.
In late April, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf released a plan to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. To achieve those goals, Wolf recommended implementing policies (implementing actionで実行作業。実行政策？) to keep the state’s nuclear reactors in service. Nuclear plants do not emit carbon dioxide, one of the major causes of global warming.
Nuclear power plants generate 42 percent of Pennsylvania’s electricity and provide 93 percent of its zero-carbon power.
Elsewhere in Pennsylvania, Exelon operates two reactors at the Peach Bottom and two at Limerick, FirstEnergy Corp operates two reactors at Beaver Valley and Talen Energy owns two at Susquehanna.
FirstEnergy’s bankrupt FirstEnergy Solutions unit said it would shut Beaver Valley in 2021 unless the reactors receive some financial support from federal or state programs.
Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Marguerita Choy
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関西電力 炎上！#05
Photo:caracterdesign/gettyimages
関西電力の原発マネー還流問題で、東日本大震災後の日本の原発事業をけん引してきた関電の地位は大きく低下した。特集「関西電力 炎上！」（全5回）の最終回では、将来の原発再編構想、そして日本のエネルギー政策の行く末を大胆に予想する。（ダイヤモンド編集部 堀内 亮）
Dive Brief:
Building renewable energy resources in Indiana is cheaper than keeping existing coal plants open, according to new plans from one utility in the state.
Last week, Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO) presented analysis for its 2018 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), finding it can save customers more than $4 billion over 30 years by moving from 65% coal today to 15% coal in 2023 and eliminating the resource by 2028.(今日の65%石炭を2023年に15%石炭に変化させる[move]事で30年以上で40億ドル以上を削減可能)
To replace retiring coal, NIPSCO found that a portfolio of solar, storage, wind and demand management is the most cost effective, along with a small amount of market purchases from the Midcontinent ISO(石炭火発のリプレースとして太陽光・蓄電・需要応答そして平行して少量のMidcontinent ISOからの市場調達の組み合わせを見出した). The utility will file its IRP on Oct. 31.
