Following the path set out by Turkey Point’s recent 20-year extension, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday granted a similar extension to the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, allowing the facility to functionally operate until 2054. Exelon, who owns the facility in York, Pennsylvania, made an announcement Friday that it fully intends to keep both of the plant’s twin reactors operational through the full 80 years now allocated.
Exelon hopes to emulate Florida Power & Light’s plan for their own Turkey Point reactors, noting that 80 years for a successfully running plant is now possible due to “significant investments in new equipment and technologies to increase Peach Bottom’s generation capacity by approximately 12 percent.” The company also expounded on Peach Bottom’s financial and economic track record, estimating that over 500 million tons of carbon could potentially be barred from entering Earth’s atmosphere as a result of the NRC’s 20-year extension. Bryan Hanson, the chief nuclear officer for Exelon, said in a statement released Friday, that, “This plant is well suited to continue running safely, reliably and efficiently, given the extensive upgrades accomplished over the past seven years. The ability to operate Peach Bottom for another 20 years is good news for the environment, our employees, and the community.”
One reason for the optimism about extending a sixty-year-old plant such as Peach Bottom’s life span is the recent development in plug and place replacements for obsolete instrumentation such as analog process and control meters. “Many of the plant’s components have been replaced or upgraded in recent years”, an Exelon representative commented as part of Friday’s announcement.
Some of these components include OTEK’s very own HI-Q119 model, which proudly monitors process control and measurement applications within Peach Bottom’s I&C room. One of our more popular models for the nuclear industry, the HI-Q119 is a Form, Fit, and Function replacement for the Dixson BB101, GE/Yokogawa 180, and the Westinghouse/Weschler VX252/251 among others. The HI-Q119 also boats math functions, polynomials, 1,2, or 3 analog inputs, 51 segment tri-color bar graphs, optional 10a relay outputs, optional EMI/RFI shielding, and is completely customizable to consumer-driven applications.
For more info on the HI-Q119 or how OTEK’s products are obsolescence-hardened and could bring decades of profitability as part of your 20-year extension, please call 520-748-7900 or email our sales office at sales@otekcorp.com