Peach Bottom

Philadelphia Electric Co. now says that the Peach Bottom nuclear power plant in York County will be closed at least four more months, driving up total costs of replacement electricity for PE and three other utilities to at least $181 million. PE plans to have stockholders absorb its electricity-replacement costs, but two New Jersey utilities who own shares of the plant intend to pass at least 80 percent of their costs, or at least $78 million, onto customers. PE had hoped to have the plant restarted by the end of October, but now says it won't get the plant back in service before the end of March, the first anniversary of a shutdown ordered by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday it needs more time to decide whether the massive repairs made to Philadelphia Electric Co.'s Peach Bottom power plant are adequate to guarantee that the two reactors there can be returned to service safely. That sounds reasonable enough, but consider the underlying message, as explained by NRC regional administrator William T. Russell: Philadelphia Electric allowed conditions at the York County plant to deteriorate to such dangerous levels - both in terms of equipment and attitude - that it's going to take a lot to convince the NRC that PE can be trusted to start up and run the plant.

In more fallout from the government-ordered shutdown of the Peach Bottom nuclear plant, Philadelphia Electric Co. announced today that its 11,000 non- management employees won't get a general wage increase this summer. It is the first time since at least World War II that the company's annual wage and benefit package contained no general wage increase. Workers last year received a wage hikee of 4 percent. A journeyman lineman at PE makes $18.58 an hour. James M. Lange, president of the Independent Group Association, which represents 6,000 workers, said he expected "general relief" from the employees, many of whom were worried about a pay cut. "People have been waiting for the other shoe to drop after rumors circulated about a pay cut," Lange said.

Philadelphia Electric Co.'s Peach Bottom nuclear plants suffer from a "serious management deficiency" that produces sloppy work and contributes to violations of federal safety rules, according to a new report by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In the commission's latest evaluation of PE's nuclear-plant management, the 12-year-old Peach Bottom plants received substantially lower grades than the new Limerick 1 plant, which went into operation earlier this year. The report, sent to PE last week, cites a "marked contrast in overall facility performance between the Limerick and Peach Bottom sites," with "much poorer results at Peach Bottom," despite the fact that procedures and operating rules at both sites are similar.

Problems at Philadelphia Electric Co.'s Peach Bottom nuclear power plant just won't go away. The latest inspection by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission found that a rash of safety and operational problems continued to plague the York County nuclear facility. "By and large, there has been little overall progress," the NRC's regional section chief, Lawrence T. Doerflein, said yesterday. "We're still seeing the same problems we saw a year ago. " The report covered the plant's performance from June 1, 1990, to Aug. 3. Botched or missed surveillance tests, personnel errors in conducting routine safety tests, and improper procedures by radiation workers were among the problems cited.

The federal government has brought drug charges against five employees of the Peach Bottom nuclear plant. Two Peach Bottom employees were arraigned Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg on charges of distributing drugs. Charges also were filed against three other employees who were being ordered to make court appearances. The charges are the result of a continuing FBI probe of alleged drug activity at the nuclear-power station, located at Delta in York County. "We are cooperating fully with the FBI so as to assure the public of our determination to identify and remove all individuals from our plants who engage in drug activities," said Joseph F. Paquette Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Philadelphia Electric Co., which operates the plant.

Add at least another $5 million to the shareholders' bill and a minimum delay of six weeks to the anticipated restart of Philadelphia Electric Co.'s Peach Bottom nuclear power plant. PE said yesterday that it won't ask the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for permission to restart the plant at the end of November, as originally expected, because additional training is needed for plant operators. The plant was shut down by the NRC in March 1987 after operators were found sleeping and playing video games while on duty, among other violations.

The risk of a major nuclear accident at Philadelphia Electric Co.'s two Peach Bottom reactors is more remote than it was 10 years ago, according to a new, still-unreleased study by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. But the report also says that containment buildings at Peach Bottom are unlikely, if such an accident occurs, to keep radiation from leaking into the environment without improvements in design. The NRC study, which examined safety designs at five reactors across the country, raises the possibility that PE, and other utilities whose reactors use similar containment designs, could be pressed to make costly changes to their plants.

No self-respecting gossip columnist would call yesterday's meeting between executives of Philadelphia Electric Co. and federal nuclear safety regulators a love fest. Still, after being so strongly at odds during the last 16 months over PE's shuttered Peach Bottom nuclear plant, officials at the Nuclear Regulator Commission and Philadelphia Electric undeniably have kissed and made up. In fact, though stressing that any final decision had not been made, NRC regional administrator William T. Russell said yesterday it certainly is possible that PE will get the Christmas present it's been longing for - permission to restart Peach Bottom by the end of the year.

A leading Senate Democrat called yesterday for creation of a committee to investigate Philadelphia Electric Co.'s management and operations of the dormant Peach Bottom nuclear power plant. The resolution was a further attempt to force PE to disclose internal records on the plant, which was ordered shut March 31, 1987, by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after control-room operators were found sleeping on the job. The state Department of Environmental Resources, at the direction of Gov. Casey, earlier this week invoked a state law to try to force PE and a nuclear industry group to disclose certain records.

John L. Hankins, 93, former vice president of electric production at the Philadelphia Electric Co., died Tuesday, May 29, at Lima Estates, a retirement community near Media, where he had lived since moving from his longtime residence in Rose Tree in 1991. Mr. Hankins was a vice president at Peco from 1973 until his retirement in 1978. A tribute adopted by the board of directors in advance of his retirement stated that Mr. Hankins "has been in the forefront of the nuclear age, beginning with Peach Bottom No. 1 unit in 1967 and continuing through the full development of that station with its unique construction, operations, and maintenance problems.

WASHINGTON - The risk that an earthquake would cause a severe accident at a U.S. nuclear plant is greater than previously thought, 24 times higher in one case, according to an AP analysis of preliminary government data. The nation's nuclear regulator believes a quarter of America's reactors may need modifications to make them safer. The threat came into sharp focus last week, when shaking from the largest earthquake to hit Virginia in 117 years appeared to exceed what the North Anna nuclear power plant northwest of Richmond was built to sustain.

Though the chance is extremely remote, Pennsylvania nuclear reactors, including those near Lancaster and Beaver Creek, could be vulnerable to radiation leaks if their power were knocked out for days, an Associated Press investigation has found. The risk exists for all U.S. nuclear reactors if there are no other means to keep the reactors cool, but some are more susceptible than others, according to the AP investigation, conducted in the wake of radiation leaks at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

WASHINGTON - It's a nightmarish scenario - a days-long blackout at a nuclear power plant leading to a radioactive leak. Although the odds of that happening are extremely remote, an Associated Press investigation has found that some U.S. plants are more vulnerable than others. Long before Japan's nuclear emergency, U.S. regulators knew that a power failure lasting for days at an American nuclear plant, whatever the cause, could lead to a radioactive leak. Even so, they have required the nation's 104 nuclear reactors to develop plans for dealing only with much shorter blackouts, on the assumption that power would be restored quickly.

State Stores belong in old Soviet Union Whenever I say State Store, I feel like I'm in a communist country. Isn't it about time to privatize these stores? It would create free enterprise, and it would create jobs, because there would be competition. When I go to a liquor store in another state, there are knowledgeable employees who are available to assist you (not just tell you where things are). Additionally, there is competition that will lead to better prices and selection. For example, I purchased a specific wine out of state for $9.99.

With attention focused on tons of radioactive spent fuel that may have ignited, some experts say the Japanese will be lucky if the stricken Fukushima plant creates a disaster only the size of Chernobyl in 1986. These spent fuel rods are now being blamed for the radioactive releases over Japan. While the reactor cores are encased in bulky containment vessels, spent fuel is separated from the environment only by the water in the pools, said former nuclear engineer David Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Mass.

A unit of Exelon Corp. is teaming up with engineering consultants Shaw Group and technology company Toshiba Corp. to design, build and run new nuclear electric-generating plants in Saudi Arabia, the companies announced Monday. Exelon Nuclear Partners, whose stable of nuclear plants includes Limerick Creek, Oyster Creek, Peach Bottom and Three Mile Island, would provide operations services for the new sites. Exelon's parent owns Philadelphia-based Peco Energy Co. Louisiana-based Shaw has an office in Moorestown employing close to 300, primarily working on power projects, and company spokeswoman Gentry Brann said they could be involved in this work.

The American arrested in a sweep of al-Qaeda members in Yemen last week had worked as a laborer at five nuclear complexes in South Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, federal officials said yesterday. Sharif Mobley, 26, had a "red badge" clearance, the highest level a laborer can obtain, while working at the Salem-Hope Creek nuclear plants in Salem County, according to a spokesman from the union local to which he belonged. Mobley, who grew up in Buena, N.J., was arrested with suspected al-Qaeda members in Yemen, and officials said he then shot and killed a security guard and wounded several others while trying to escape from the Republican Hospital in the capital city of Sana'a.

In the latest sign of a fundamental market shift toward cleaner fuels, Exelon Corp. announced yesterday that it would shut down two aging fossil-fuel power plants in Phoenixville and Eddystone in 2011, eliminating 280 jobs. Exelon said that it would completely close the Cromby Generating Station along the Schuylkill in Phoenixville and that it would retire two coal-fired generators at the Eddystone Generating Station on the Delaware River. The company said the decision to shut the Eisenhower-era power plants was based on economics - the high-maintenance units are costly to operate in deregulated electricity markets, where wholesale prices are depressed.

M. Joseph Friderichs, 82, a Philadelphia Electric Co. executive at a time of significant growth for the utility, died of heart failure Saturday at his West Chester home. Mr. Friderichs was manager of corporate planning and analysis for Peco from 1982 to 1989, when he retired. Born in Benton, Ill., he graduated from Mineola (N.Y.) High School in 1943 and, after a year at Yale University, joined the Navy in 1944. Trained in electronics, he served in a construction battalion with the Seabees on Samoa and then as an electronics repairman on ships in the Philippines.