avatarRobert Shaneyfelt

Summary

The website content discusses two significant events in Indiana's power generation history: the legal issues and subsequent retirement of Duke Energy's coal-fired Gallagher Station due to Clean Air Act violations, and the abandonment of the Marble Hill Nuclear Power Station project following construction problems and industry setbacks post the Three Mile Island accident.

Abstract

The article reflects on the challenges faced

Power Origination Failures

Fiasco's with energy plants

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As a college student implementing cooperative education (coop) between the largest power company in Indiana (Public Service Indiana) and my university, I kept informed on the power generation events.

I’m going to discuss two of the events, which aren't flattering to the power generating industry.

At one time there was a coal-fired power plant located in Indiana across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. The name of this particular power plant was Gallagher Station, operated by Duke Energy.

I recall this event like the State of Kentucky sewing the power company of Indiana over the smoke from the Power plant's smokestacks blowing across the river into Kentucky. When researching this story, I found out that it wasn't the State of Kentucky sewing, rather the federal government over Clean Air Act violations.

According to the U.S. Justice Department, Duke Energy made illegal modifications to the plant causing a significant increase in sulfur dioxide, a pollutant known to negatively affect those with respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses.

I know from basic chemistry that sulfur dioxide (SO2) combined with water (H2O)is the cause of acid rain(H2SO3).

H2O + SO2 → H2SO3

Over the years, Duke Energy’s use of Gallagher Station dwindled.

The Gallagher Station power plant in New Albany was retired on June 1. In 2016, Duke Energy announced plans to end operations at the facility by 2022, but reduced demand due to the pandemic accelerated the company’s timeline.

The ramp down at the plant began nearly a decade ago. In 2012, Duke Energy closed two of its four units and outfitted the other two with pollution control devices, including baghouses to reduce particle emissions and technology to drive down sulfur dioxide.

The past decade has already seen a steep decline in sulfur dioxide in Louisville, dropping from more than 100 parts per billion in 2010 to less than 20 in 2019, according to the APCD. That matches national trends that have seen sulfur dioxide emissions from power plants fall 93% between 1995 and 2020.

Second Event

Marble Hill Nuclear Power Station was an unfinished nuclear power plant in Jefferson County, near Hanover, Indiana.

Public Service Company of Indiana announced it was abandoning the half-finished nuclear power plant, on which $2.5 billion had already been spent.

At the time, I heard accusations of construction shortcuts causing honeycombed concrete in support structures,

Construction at Marble Hill began in 1977 and ended, Marble Hill was a devastating setback for the troubled nuclear power industry, which saw more than 100 plant cancellations following the Three Mile Island accident near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in March 1979. In 1984, when the Public Service Company of Indiana (PSI), now Duke Energy, abandoned the half-finished nuclear power plant.

When I worked for the Indiana energy company, its name was Public Service.

Demolition of the unfinished facility began on March 18, 2005.

There currently are no nuclear power plants in Indiana.

Copyright © 2022, Robert Shaneyfelt All rights reserved

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