Crystal River nuclear plant closure devastates Citrus County (FL)

CRYSTAL RIVER — Huey "Bubba" Anderson III placed the hopes of Fat Boy's Bar-B-Q on the return of the nearby Crystal River nuclear plant.

The local mainstay that his parents opened had fed plant workers since the 1970s.

But on Tuesday, when Duke Energy announced the power plant would close, Anderson said the business could be facing its final days.

"My first thought (was) that I'm going to go under," said Anderson, standing in Fat Boy's near-empty dining room. "The whole Citrus County is going to feel it. . . . It just keeps getting worse and worse."

In this sleepy gulf-front county of rural farmlands and coastal swamps, the nuclear plant that defined Crystal River was perhaps a peculiar claim to fame.

But with the death blow of the plant known as CR3, leaders and residents here said it will be hard to imagine Citrus County carrying on without it.

Some of the other comments are blaming Obama for the closure of the nuclear plant. It’s not that simple. Obama has done plenty of destructive things, but from the article,

“Worries over the impact of CR3’s demise have lingered here since the plant’s containment wall cracked in late 2009 and attempted fixes failed. Ever since, former employees have led a slow exodus in search of work.”

I don’t think Obama cracked the containment wall.

However, he and the rest of the federal leviathan can be blamed for regulations that make it harder to fix (or replace) nuclear plants. Also from the article,

“Some leaders here, like County Commission Chairman Joe Meek, said they were encouraged by Duke’s talk of a new natural gas plant and took solace that there are still four functioning coal units at the Crystal River site.

...

Yet the damage from Crystal River closures could be far from over. If two of the older coal plants there close as expected in two to five years, county tax revenue could sink even more.”

Obama’s anti-coal policies can definitely be blamed for THAT.

"Wow, that’s bad to hear. They just did a steam generator changeout not that long ago too. Worked with a few of the engineers from that plant, good people."

It's a lot worse than that, it also has new HP and LP turbines ready as part of a 200MW extended power uprate and tons of other improvements. It a sad day for the entire nuclear industry actually.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.