...Dwindling Nuclear Fleet: Nuclear plant retirements are slowly eroding U.S. nuclear capacity, reducing a major source of carbon-free electricity, and together with coal retirements, increasing reliance on natural gas. The closure of five units totaling 4.2 gigawatts (GW) announced over the past two years leaves 99 operating reactors aggregating 96.5 GW, or an estimated 19% of electric generation. A sixth reactor, the 615-MW Oyster Creek unit, will be retired by Dec. 31, 2019. Five of the six units are retiring before the end of their license expirations. Merchant Versus Regulated Retirements: The six units to be retired are evenly divided between rate-regulated and merchant facilities. Although economics drive the retirement decision for each segment, the circumstances are quite different. The rate-regulated retirements follow extended outages where the repair costs exceed cheaper supply alternatives. The merchant closures are driven by unfavorable market conditions that limit recovery of...
