EON’s old nuclear money spinners are now just a big hassle

Cooling towers emit vapor into the night sky at a nuclear power plant operated by EON SE in Grohnde, Germany, on Wednesday, Aug. 07, 2013. Germany's air pollution is set to worsen for a second year, the first back-to-back increase since at least the 1980s, after Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to shut nuclear plants led utilities to burn more coal. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Bloomberg

An EON SE nuclear plant that made billions for the German utility is now losing money. Essen-based EON is battling repeated delays to production at its Brokdorf reactor that has cost the company more than 100 million euros ($114
million) since halting in February, Almut Zyweck, a spokeswoman for EON’s nuclear unit, said by email.
Brokdorf, a 1.4-gigawatt reactor capable of powering 2.8 million homes, is scheduled to start on July 19, five months after regulators raised concerns about “oxide layers” on fuel rods discovered when the unit stopped for maintenance. EON has submitted its examination results to the regulator and is awaiting approval to restart.
EON, which last year separated its conventional power plant business into a new company called Uniper SE, still operates three atomic plants including the 31-year-old Brokdorf facility. The utility had to keep the nuclear business after the government made plant operators permanently liable for decommissioning costs under the nation’s plan to exit atomic power.

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