CRYSTAL RIVER, Fla.,None — A nuclear power plant has been closed for years and WFTV went to investigate when the plant will be back in business.
Orlando is 100 miles from the Progress Energy nuclear plant near Crystal River, where workers have been trying to fix a cracked plant barrier since 2009. As of Tuesday night, officials said there is no clear answer if the plant will ever be back online.
The Crystal River plant was built in 1977, and can withstand an F5 tornado, a category 5 and even 6 hurricane.
On Tuesday, WFTV cleared a vigorous security screening to get a look inside of the plant to find out what the utility is doing to get this facility back online, and officials said that won't happen until a separation in a concrete radiation containment wall around spent fuel rods is repaired.
"That barrier provided the last barrier to the public release of radiation. So, we're taking it seriously," said Jon Franke, VP of the Crystal River nuclear plant site.
The newest breach in that wall never caused any danger to the public. It has happened since the plant was taken offline. Officials said the problem started with an opening that was created to accommodate two steam generators. That opening stressed the 42-inch thick concrete wall surrounding used uranium fuel rods.
Insurance covered the $150 million repair, but in the process a second gap formed.
"We're still in the process of determining what the final answer is here to the question, 'how to we fix,'" said Franke.
Where the spent fuel rods are kept is the most radioactive area of the facility . Progress Energy also said they have a number of redundant systems in place to keep the area, as well as the facility's nuclear core, cool.
Progress Energy's 1.6 million customers are already sharing nuclear energy recovery costs of roughly $5 per month. Officials said the money is being used for upgrades to Crystal River and a proposed plant in Levy County.
The utility said they hope to have a better idea of what's next here by the end of June.
WFTV
