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Energy Northwest's Columbia nuclear plant in Benton County, Wash., could be retired and replaced by purchases on the open electricity market that would save power customers in the Pacific Northwest $1.7 billion over the next 17 years, an economic analysis released Dec. 11 by Physicians for Social Responsibility claims.
The anti-nuclear public health group plans to distribute the study to the local utility districts that buy the plant's power and to politicians such as Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in an effort to drum up support to get Columbia closed.
"Sen. Wyden has long taken the position that the plant should be closed if it can't pay for itself," McCullough Research Managing Partner Robert McCullough said. He co-wrote the analysis on behalf of Physicians for Social Responsibility, and the Sierra Club also helped fund the study, according to a statement.
Two nuclear plants in the past year, Dominion Resources Inc.'s Kewaunee plant in Wisconsin and Entergy Corp.'s Vermont Yankee plant, have made the move to retire because the large expense of operating the reactors was outstripping the revenue they were receiving in the market. Both of those plants, however, are merchant facilities that sold their power in competitive markets. The 1,200-MW Columbia nuclear plant is owned by the municipal utilities that...