Three village island nuclear power plant 1

The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in the United States has announced that it will be shut down until September 20th. This facility is well known for having a core melting accident in 1979, but it was Unit 2 that caused the accident, and Unit 1 has been operating after changing the operating company.

However, as of 2017, if the operating company Exelon cannot receive the government’s clean energy subsidy, it has announced that it will cease operations in September 2019. And it was closed on September 20th as announced. If the nuclear power plant is stopped, it cannot be dismantled immediately. Over the next few weeks, reactor fuel will be removed and spent fuel storage will take place.

It takes more time to completely dismantle the reactor and remove all radioactive material. Excelon estimates it will cost $1.2 billion by 2078. In addition, Unit 2 will be completely closed by 2036 after the operation of Unit 1 is stopped by FastEnergy, which owns it, and decommissioning of the decommissioned reactor will begin by 2041 and will be completed by 2053.

Exelon has long disagreeed with the fact that Pennsylvania’s authorities do not evaluate nuclear power plants as one of the nuclear power plants’ clean energy sources. In addition, he was dissatisfied with the supply of natural gas and shale gas at low prices, and said that Unit 1 has not been able to produce profits for the past five years.

The accident at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant No. 1 shocked the world, but it was only level 5 in the international nuclear accident rating, and the damage to the people around him was limited. However, core melting occurred in 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident, and in 2011 at the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, which are all important cases following Level 7. It also contributed to the decline in the number of nuclear power plants in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s.

In addition, the number of power plant facilities using renewable energy and natural gas is increasing, and the demand for nuclear power plants is decreasing. The shutdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant can be seen as a symbol of the change of the times. Related information can be found here .