Entergy helps extend life of Taipower plant
Entergy Nuclear will assist in a project to extend the operating life of Taiwan Power Co's Kuosheng nuclear power plant. The plant is considered a sister plant to Entergy's Grand Gulf plant in Mississippi, USA, in terms of age and design.
Entergy Nuclear will assist in a project to extend the operating life of Taiwan Power Co's (Taipower's) Kuosheng nuclear power plant.
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| Kuosheng nuclear power plant (Image: Taipower) |
Taipower has contracted Taiwan's Institute of Nuclear Energy Research (INER) to initiate a project to allow for the extended operation of Kuosheng. The project – called the Time-Limited Integrated Plant Assessment (TLIPA) – contains a scope of activities similar to licence renewal projects in the USA.
Entergy said its licence renewal team would provide on-site support for Taipower and INER staff. They will also provide peer reviews of engineering documents required during the TLIPA.
Entergy - the second-largest nuclear generator in the USA - supported a similar TLIPA for Taipower's Chinshan nuclear power plant between 2005 and 2007. It has also applied for and received licence renewals at three US nuclear sites as well as supported similar work in countries including Brazil, China, France, Hungary, Japan, South Korea, Mexico and Spain. "With the creation of Enexus and EquaGen, we will be able to provide these services and others, on a broader scale to the nuclear industry, both nationally and internationally," said Donna Jacobs, Entergy's senior vice president of planning, development and oversight.
Licence transfers
In November 2007, Entergy announced plans to separate its non-utility nuclear business from its rate-regulated utility business through the spin-off of the non-utility nuclear business. The new business, to be called Enexus, will own six wholesale reactors that have been part of Entergy's 11-reactor fleet. The remaining part of the business, to be called EquaGen, will have operating responsibility for the Enexus fleet, provide nuclear management and technical services to Entergy's nuclear plants and continue to supply contracted services.
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has announced that it has approved the transfer of operating licences for the FitzPatrick, Indian Point units 2 and 3, Palisades, Pilgrim and Vermont Yankee nuclear power plants from Entergy's to Enexus. The transfer also covers the shut down Indian Point unit 1 and the independent used fuel storage facility at Big Rock Point.
