NextEra Energy Resources, the wind farm company with major operations throughout Oklahoma has decided to permanently close its nuclear power plant in Iowa following the Aug. 10 storm that caused millions in damages across the state.
The Duane Arnold Energy center is Iowa’s only nuclear facility.
“After conducting a complete assessment of the damage caused by recent severe weather, NextEra Energy Resources has made the decision not to restart the reactor,” spokesman Peter Robbins said reported The Gazette.
Duane Arnold, the only nuclear power plant in Iowa, was scheduled to be decommissioned Oct. 30.
The derecho caused “extensive” damage to the facility’s cooling towers, Robbins said. Replacing the cooling towers with fewer than three months until decommissioning was “not feasible,” he added.
Robbins said NextEra Energy Resources will “continue to work with all our employees to minimize the impact of this situation on them and their families.”
Before the derecho, employees were taking early retirements, looking for other jobs within the company or staying at NextEra to manage the decommissioned site. Those options remain intact, Robbins said.
“It doesn’t change the outcomes for those folks,” Robbins said. “It just affects the timing of it.”
Source: The Gazette