NextEra Energy is taking more steps in its proposal to restart the Duane Arnold Energy Center nuclear power plant near Palo.
In an Aug. 7 filing with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NextEra – which acquired a majority interest in the Duane Arnold plant in 2006 – said it intends to submit an environmental review document by October as part of the application process for the plant’s potential restart.
In January, NextEra Energy Duane Arnold, LLC submitted a Duane Arnold restart overview and a “regulatory path to reauthorization of power operations.”
According to the Aug. 7 update, all spent fuel from the plant has been transferred to Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI), and most major plant systems drained and deenergized. Training and administrative buildings have been removed, as have the plant’s mechanical draft cooling towers.
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.”
The 615-megawatt Duane Arnold Energy Center, Iowa’s only nuclear plant, which opened in 1974, ceased operations following the August 2020 derecho that brought winds of up to 140 mph to the Corridor, causing heavy damage to the plant’s cooling towers, according to NextEra Energy officials.
The plant was already scheduled to be decommissioned in October 2020 after its main customer, Alliant Energy, paid $110 million in 2018 to exit its power purchase agreement with the plant several years early.
At the time, Alliant spokesman Justin Foss said the deal for early decommissioning of Duane Arnold came about as a result of discussions on extending the utility’s power purchase agreement (PPA) with the plant. The prices quoted by NextEra did not seem appealing for Alliant’s customers, Mr. Foss said.
World Nuclear News also reports that NextEra Energy recently filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, seeking to reclaim interconnection rights that were previously transferred from the shut-down Duane Arnold plant to a solar energy project. About 40 acres of the Duane Arnold site are now occupied by a solar farm.
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.
NextEra officials say that they hope to restart the Duane Arnold plant by the end of 2028 in an effort to meeting newly-increasing demand for electrical power, largely spurred by the construction of two new data center projects near Cedar Rapids.
