The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved a waiver request from NextEra Duane Arnold (NEDA) LLC, representing another step in NextEra Energy’s proposal to restart the Duane Arnold Energy Center nuclear energy plant near Palo.
In its order, issued Aug. 25, FERC says the waiver will allow NextEra Duane Arnold to use the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) generating facility replacement process to consolidate existing interconnection rights and set a new commercial operation deadline of Dec. 31, 2029.
The waiver permits NextEra to consolidate interconnection rights from three solar projects at Duane Arnold, which have not yet been placed into service, with affiliate Kinsella Energy Center into a single nuclear interconnection agreement.
The Duane Arnold Energy Center was shut down in 2020 and is currently in the process of being decommissioned. But NextEra Energy continues to evaluate the possibility of seeking authorization from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission to restart the plant to address rising electrical demand, primarily due to the ongoing development of power-intensive data centers.
“NEDA asserts that it has already invested significant capital in the recommissioning effort and currently expects to invest approximately $50 to $100 million in 2025 to achieve commercial operation between 2028 and 2029,” FERC wrote in its order.
“We find that NEDA has acted in good faith in investing significant capital and securing interconnection rights in order to pursue a consolidated GIA (Generator Interconnection Agreement) necessary to recommission Duane Arnold,” the order adds. “NEDA asserts that the requested waiver will support the timely and cost-effective recommissioning of Duane Arnold through the use of the Replacement Process. NEDA also asserts that granting (a) waiver will allow NEDA to respond to changing market conditions and the urgent need for high-capacity baseload generation.”
The order also addresses a motion to intervene in the waiver request from Pamela Mackey Taylor of Marion, director of the Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club, who sought to intervene “because she generally opposes nuclear energy and supports solar energy.”
In her motion, Ms. Mackey Taylor said “the Commission should deny (the) waiver because NEDA has failed to satisfy the Commission’s waiver criteria,” that “the requested waiver is not limited in scope because granting (the) waiver will induce the abandonment of three solar projects” because their production would be replaced by nuclear energy, and that “the waiver does not address a concrete problem because NEDA does not have assurance that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will restart Duane Arnold, and there is no proof that it is beneficial to ratepayers or necessary to recommission Duane Arnold in lieu of building solar facilities.”
FERC’s order indicates that “we find that Ms. Mackey Taylor’s arguments here are speculative and unsupported by the record.”
“The requested waiver will support the timely and cost-effective recommissioning of Duane Arnold,” the commission wrote.
An outline of planned restart activities indicates NextEra plans to restore Duane Arnold to “previous operating license condition at 2020 shutdown,” with modifications including new cooling towers, restoration of in-scope transmission lines, new office and warehouse buildings, a sewage treatment system upgrade, dredging of the plant’s intake and the filing of permit applications “to support restart activities and resumption of power operation.”
A total of five environmental permits are required before the plant can be restarted: A National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) wastewater permit, water use permit, Linn County minor air operating permits, a hazardous waste generator permit and a radioactive material license.
