6A The Gazette ● Sunday, May 5, 2019

Duane Arnold/Renewable power growing

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Decommissioning Duane Arnold

employs nearly 600 people, no
longer fits in Iowa’s changing
energy portfolio.
“We’re an industry leader,
we run extremely well,”
Curtland said. “But of all the Duane Arnold Energy Center is slated to stop producing energy in late 2020. When the plant shuts down, officials will begin the
nuclear plants built, we’re
on the smaller side, so our lengthy process of decommissioning Iowa’s only nuclear power plant. Here are some of the steps that process will include:
costs are spread across fewer
megawatts.”

CHANGING LANDSCAPE STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3

While Duane Arnold has Plant expected to operate Shut down Begin process to remove nuclear material from the reactor. Work is similar to the
represented a consistent normally up until late 2020. the unit. refueling process that takes place every two years, but all fuel will be removed and
source of energy since coming stored in the spent fuel pool.
online in 1974, Curtland said
it has become outpriced by
cheaper energy sources.
Similarly-staffed single-unit
nuclear plants generate about STEP 4
800 to 900 megawatts, but After about 2 years in the pool, material will be relocated to
Duane Arnold is a 600-mega- dry storage. Moving material could take around half a year.
watt plant. What’s more, Dry storage, which already exists on site, will be a standalone
Iowa’s energy portfolio has entity, licensed and regulated, where fuel is stored.
seen renewable power —
particularly wind energy —
grow significantly.
About a third of Iowa’s
energy generation — more
than 7,300 megawatts —
comes from wind. The Iowa
Environmental Council
estimated last year that
2,600 megawatts worth of
wind turbines were under Jim Slosiarek photos
construction and another Fuel for the boiling water nuclear reactor is stored April 8 in the spent fuel pool next to the reactor
roughly 1,800 megawatts were vessel at the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Palo. The transfer of new and used fuel assemblies to
in advanced development. The dry cask storage facility located on the grounds of the NextEra and from the reactor vessel is done underwater.
And fracking has brought Energy Duane Arnold Energy Center in Palo, seen April 8, is designed
down the cost of natural gas in to accommodate on-site storage of spent nuclear fuel produced by
the power plant during its entire production lifespan.
recent years, making the en-
ergy source more attractive.
Over time, those sources
have overshadowed the small STEP 6
nuclear plant at 3277 DAEC At that point, there will be three main options:
Rd., Curtland said.
“If you look at what our cost
STEP 5 OPTION A - Prompt Decommissioning: Tearing down the plant begins immediately.
to produce is, if you look at a After fuel is removed, all systems in the plant OPTION B - Delayed Decommissioning: Work to dismantle the building takes place
normal day, we can’t meet that will be drained and de-energized and the over time in a financially efficient manner.
wholesale price,” he said. building secured and monitored. OPTION C - Safe Store: With materials secure and the plant shut down, officials have
Plans have been announced 60 years to decommission the facility. This option allows for a spread-out decommission
to permanently shut down process or the space to find a second use, if appropriate.
eight other nuclear plants in
the coming years, in addition
to Duane Arnold, according to
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Source: NextEra Energy Resources The Duane Arnold Energy Center near Palo, viewed from the north.
Commission. Gazette graphic
The commission reports
that about 20 nuclear power Gazette archive photo
reactors in the United States
are currently undergoing
decommissioning or
permanent shutdown.

NEW AGREEMENT
The power purchase
agreement between Alliant
Energy — which uses
70 percent of the plant’s
energy generation — and
NextEra originally was
scheduled to run through 2025.
However, in December, the
Iowa Utilities Board approved
a settlement between the two
companies to shave five years
off the agreement.
Alliant will have to make
a $110 million buyout payment
to NextEra at the end of
2020 and, if savings are
not realized, the affected
parties could seek recovery,
according to settlement
documents.
Alliant and NextEra
officials have said closing
the plant will save as much
as $300 million over 21 years.
That is expected to translate
to about a 3 percent monthly
savings, or about $42 a year,
for Alliant’s residential
customers starting in 2021.
Commercial and industrial
customers will see a roughly
2.3 percent fuel cost savings.
“Really our customers
could start seeing that cost dif-
ferential, that cost reduction,
as early as 2021. We negoti-
ated an agreement that was
at lower costs for customers
compared to just letting the
agreement run through 2025,”
said Terry Kouba, president
of Iowa Power and Light and
senior vice president of Alliant
Energy.
Besides NextEra, Des
Moines-based Central Iowa
Power Cooperative and Hum-
boldt-based Corn Belt Power
Cooperative own 20 percent
and 10 percent stakes in the
plant, respectively.
Bill Cherrier, executive vice
president and chief executive
officer of Central Iowa Power,
said the news that Duane
Arnold was set to close five
years early caught some by
surprise. He said he first
heard last July that the plant’s
power agreement would end
in 2020.
“Typically, in our industry,
when you’re replacing power
or plant capacity, usually
you want at least five years
or more. So it isn’t some-
thing you just can do in six
or 12 months,” Cherrier said.
“When we understood that it
would be closed by the fall of
2020, we really started work-
ing in earnest ... to figure out
what all the options were.”
The cooperative had
announced plans a year
earlier for the Heartland
Divide Wind Energy Center,
a more than 100-megawatt
wind farm. Following the
announced closure of Duane
Arnold, it has doubled down
on renewables with plans for
a 100-megawatt Wapello Solar
project, which is expected to
open in late 2020.
Alliant has agreed to pur-
chase about 340 megawatts
of power from four NextEra-
owned Iowa wind facilities to
help make up for Duane
Arnold’s impact.
WALL OF MEMORIES
Inside Duane Arnold, near
the lobby area, signatures
have begun appearing on the
wall.
Curtland said he once con-
stantly had to remind employ-
ees to not write their name
on the walls of the plant, but
people always felt the need to
leave their mark, he said.
“There’s something about
people writing their name on
the wall, I never figured it out
and it used to drive me crazy,”
he said. Duane Arnold’s reactor will
But with the plant sched- be held temporarily in a spent
uled to close, Curtland said he fuel pool. Ultimately, fuel will
caved. The spot in the lobby be removed from the plant and
has been dedicated to the housed in an existing nearby
plant’s employees, who are en- facility.
couraged to leave a signature What was once a staff of
and sentiment on the wall. more than 500 specialists —
“It is pretty touching what more than double that during
a lot of people have written,” fuel outage operations — even-
Curtland said. “So you know, tually will be reduced to a
it’s kind of just a way for crew of about 50 tasked with
people to kind of say, ‘You monitoring the plant.
know what, I’m proud to be After the material is
part of the legacy of Duane removed, Curtland said
Arnold.’ ” NextEra has a few options
regarding how to proceed with
About half the plant’s staff
decommissioning.
live in Cedar Rapids, with
While nothing is deter-
others spread out among
mined at this point, a likely
communities including Palo,
option, at least in the coming
Robins and Vinton.
years, is to secure the plant
Peter Robbins, director and weigh the possibilities,
of nuclear communications Curtland said.
with NextEra, said many “To the average person
Duane Arnold employees will driving by, they’ll see the
transfer to other NextEra plant sitting there looking
facilities. Others might take like it has for years,” Curtland
early retirement. said. “The only difference is
By the end of next year, no plume off the cooling
Duane Arnold’s boiling water towers.”
reactor will shut down produc- l Comments: (319) 398-8309;
tion and nuclear material in mitchell.schmidt@thegazette.com

Energy explained: What some common industr y terms mean

By Mitchell Schmidt, The Gazetteof electricity. perature of one pound of water at an instant in time, while that it takes several watt-
l Watt-hour: A unit of en- by 1 degree Fahrenheit. distance (watt-hours) is the hours to light a light bulb,
As The Gazette’s energy ergy, used to measure the You may recognize a watt length that you travel over a but what about a kilowatt or
reporter, I’ve come to realize amount of work performed or on a household appliance, period of time. megawatt?
how complicated seemingly generated by a source. such as a 60-watt light bulb. For example, a 60-watt Here are some examples:
simple topics such as energy l Kilowatt-hour, or kwh: The bulb’s wattage is a mea- bulb left on for one hour will One megawatt equals the
or the measurement of power 1,000 watt-hours. surement of how much energy have used 60 watt-hours of amount of energy produced by
can be. l Megawatt-hour, or mwh: flow is needed to light the energy. 10 car engines.
© 2019 The Gazette

To help readers better 1 million watt-hours. bulb. Most energy bills are mea- One megawatt-hour equals
understand these topics, I’ve l BTU, or British thermal Industry officials say an sured in kilowatt-hours — or the amount of energy used by
tried to create an explainer on unit: BTUs measure how easy way to think of watt vs. the amount of energy used for about 330 homes in one hour.
some common industry terms: much energy it takes to pro- watt-hour is like speed and that billing period.
l Watt: A unit of electric duce heat. It is the amount of distance. Speed (watts) is the But what’s in a watt? l Comments: (319) 398-8309;
power that measures the flow heat required to raise the tem- rate of how fast you travel We’ve already established mitchell.schmidt@thegazette.com