Duke Energy Announces Cancellation Of Levy AP1000 Nuclear Station

30 Aug (NucNet): US utility Duke Energy has cancelled its planned project to build two Westinghouse AP100 nuclear plants at the Levy nuclear site in Florida, the company said in a statement on 29 August 2017. It is the second nuclear project Duke has cancelled in recent days. On 25 August 2017 it said it had cancelled plans to build two AP1000 units at the Lee nuclear site in South Carolina. The company received federal construction and operating licences for both facilities in late 2016, but it had not started construction. Spokeswoman Ann Marie Varga said up until last year, Duke considered Levy a viable option. But that was before the project’s lead contractor, Westinghouse, filed for bankruptcy. “As a result of the Toshiba-Westinghouse bankruptcy, Westinghouse and Toshiba will no longer construct and support new nuclear projects such as Levy,” Ms Varga said. She said cost overruns and delays at two other Westinghouse projects – Summer in South Carolina and Vogtle in Georgia – and slowing energy demand were also factors. The two-unit Summer project has also been cancelled. At Vogtle, Georgia Power agreed to a $3.68bn (€3bn) payout from Westinghouse to become the main contractor on the project, allowing it to continue for now. Duke said customers will not pay any more for the cancelled Levy project. The company said it would absorb about $150m in costs not already recovered through rates.