[RS_Rider]

This article makes it sound like there's hardly any effort involved in re licensing a nuclear plant. Maybe they should ask the utilities how much they had to spend in new hardware and engineering to get their 20 year extension.

[Raycpa]

Most buildings have a useful life of 40 years but many buildings are older than 40 years. Why? Maintenance, repair and replacement.

[Paladin2]

The industry and gov't in the 50's promised unmetered electricity.

Where is it? I want my pie!

[RoadGumby]

The greatest limitation on a plants life is the reactor vessel itself, which becomes embrittled due to neutron exposure.

This exposure, over time causes that thick piece of metal to become less ductile and more hard or brittle. This is most important during temperature changes with cooldown being the most limiting.

So, a vessel is designed to have a useful lifespan based on the amount of time it is exposed to that high neutron flux. A plant is able to show, by run time and power levels, what the exposure has been for their vessel and IF it is till within that lifespan, it can request license extension.

Additionally, some palnts even run small metal samples that are analyzed to mimic the condition of the vessel, with an eye toward demonstrating the conditions that can lead to license extension.

As noted there are also other upgrades that would be required over time. Most plants upgrade in an almost continual basis.

There is nothing underhanded in this process.