Washington (Platts)--26 Oct 2015 604 pm EDT/2204 GMT

US nuclear plant operators are likely to announce the permanent closure of additional reactors in the coming months for economic reasons, Nuclear Energy Institute President and CEO Marvin Fertel said Monday.

"I'm hoping very few" will be shut, but some are expected to, he said on the sidelines of a news conference Monday.

Entergy announced earlier this month it will permanently close its 728-MW Pilgrim station in Massachusetts sometime between 2017 and 2019, citing low power prices. The company has said a decision on whether to shut its 849-MW FitzPatrick plant in New York, also for economic reasons, will be announced by the end of the month.

Exelon has said five of its reactors in Illinois are struggling economically and a decision will be made next year about their future.

"We're closing very safe, well-operated plants because of market dysfunctionalities," Fertel said during the news conference, which was called to discuss the awarding of an operating license on October 22 by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to the Tennessee Valley Authority for its 1,150-MW Watts Bar-2 reactor in Spring City, Tennessee.

While TVA sets prices for its nuclear units, reactors in deregulated electricity markets are struggling, Fertel said.

Electricity regulators have made adjustments to capacity markets in the PJM Interconnection region that have increased revenue and helped recognize the value of baseload generating units, helping nuclear operators there, Fertel said. However, the nuclear plant operators still need increases in the prices of power they receive, including through a more level playing field for nuclear-generated power and other fuel sources, he said.

"Even so, we don't think some of this will happen fast enough to potentially save some plants," Fertel said.

TVA does not expect any impact from low power prices to the viability of its nuclear units because it operates the wholesale system and has a public power model in the parts of seven states in which it operates, TVA CEO Bill Johnson said during the news conference. However, he said retiring merchant reactors is a mistake.

"It's a mistake for us to close these plants because of the way the markets are designed," he said.

"It threatens transmission stability; it is the only mass source of low-cost carbon-free power," Johnson said.

TVA's Watts Bar-2 will load nuclear fuel starting in several weeks and then will start producing power at low levels before reaching full-power commercial operations sometime in the first quarter of next year, Johnson said. He declined to estimate how much power the new unit would generate in the coming months.

--William Freebairn, william.freebairn@platts.com
--Edited by Annie Siebert, ann.siebert@platts.com

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