Anyone in Ohio know about this? What would be the effect on the grid?

*** Weather affects Ohio nuke plants

CLEVELAND (AP) - The high temperatures and low water levels in Lake Erie have brought two nuclear plants close to having to shut down their reactors. The northern Ohio plants rely on Lake Erie's chilly water to cool down the facilities. But the lake has been warm this summer and came close to the 85-degree limit that requires the plants to stop generating electricity. FirstEnergy Corp., which operates the two plants, has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to raise the temperature cutoff to 90 degrees at Davis-Besse plant near Toledo, spokesman Todd Schneider said Monday. The Akron-based company also may request that Perry's limit be raised to 88 degrees, he said. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560642092-d08

-- Anonymous, August 10, 1999

Answers

No effect, Nancy. Even if the two plants had to shut down (which they probably won't), there's other plants operating that can pick up the load. There's certainly no chance of them reaching a high "ultimate heat sink" (bet you didn't know that's what Lake Erie is...) temp in December / January timeframe.

-- Anonymous, August 10, 1999

Maybe the grid isn't so "brittle" after all.

-- Anonymous, August 10, 1999

Maybe not in Dec./Jan. But what about September? What if we get another hellacious heat wave - with a continuing drought and even lower water levels? Can the regional grid handle peak demand AND shutdown of a couple of nukes?

-- Anonymous, August 10, 1999

FactFinders Grid Stability Test: 1. Count how many DAYS you have been without power in your own home over the last 5 years. 2. Count how many countries have more stable power grids than the US.

Comparatively speaking, we've got a good grid. What we don't have is adequate capacity in a number of regions, and this is growing worse every day in "deregulations coming so wer'e only gonna throw up cheap small CTs where we can make a killing" environment.

Regards,

-- Anonymous, August 13, 1999