Duke Energy spending on Lee nuclear plant nears $350M

NANCY PIERCE

Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good says the proposed Lee plant could be important as Duke's first generation of nuclear plants begin retiring in the 2030s.

Duke Energy Carolinas has spent $29.1 million so far this year on pre-construction costs for the proposed Lee Nuclear Station near Gaffney, S.C. That brings the total spending on the project to date to $348.7 million.

Current cost estimates for the plant are around $11 billion, with financing likely to drive up the total cost closer to $14 billion.

According to filings the utility made recently with the N.C. Utilities Commission and the S.C. Public Service Commission, financing costs were the largest expense on the project through the first six months of this year, totaling $13 million.

That?s also the largest expense for the project to date, totaling $93.1 million since the Lee plant was proposed in 2007. At the end of 2012, costs associated with obtaining a federal license for the plant had been Duke?s largest expense. But financing overtook those costs in the first half of this year.

Licensing delay

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently informed Duke that it expects to issue the license for the plant no sooner than 2016, three years behind the initial schedule. The delay is, in part, because Duke has had to shift the location of its ?nuclear islands? for the two proposed reactors by 60 feet to avoid unexpected problems with subsurface rock formations.

The delay would push completion of the plant into the mid-2020s time frame, at the earliest.

Parent Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE:DUK) this year withdrew its license application to expand the Shearon Harris nuclear plant near Raleigh and canceled its construction contract for the proposed Levy County nuclear plant in Florida.

John Downey covers the energy industry and public companies for the Charlotte Business Journal.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vertical_16/~3/GmrD-0Z_uTY/duke-energy-spending-on-lee-nuclear.html

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