Entergy Copes With Katrina Damage

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Entergy has posted a special Web site to track its response to catastrophic storm damage in Louisiana and Mississippi. Here's an update from 11:30 a.m.:

This morning, Entergy has begun assessing damage caused by the worst storm in Entergy's history. More than 1 million Entergy customers remain without power in Louisiana and Mississippi. Hurricane Katrina caused extensive damage. Due to the scope and amount of damage to its electrical system, Entergy expects a long and difficult restoration.

The number of reported customer outages peaked in Mississippi and Louisiana at nearly 1.1 million. Additional outages are possible due to the wet soil and occasional wind gusts.

The outage total has more than quadrupled the previous Entergy single event record of 270,000, set only last month during Tropical Storm Cindy. The record prior to that was 260,000 following Hurricane Georges in 1998.

Louisiana had a peak of 790,000 customers without power. In Mississippi, outage peaked at over 300,000.

Entergy crews were able to get some customers back online last night in areas that did not suffer heavy damage from Katrina. Company officials do not expect major restoration efforts to begin until after crews can assess the extent of the damage.

Entergy sincerely appreciates its customers' patience and understanding during this emergency time.

Hurricane Katrina leaves behind the largest number of power disruptions for a single event in the company's history.

More than a million Entergy customers are without power. The company expects a long and difficult restoration in the aftermath of the extensive damage caused by Katrina.

Again, we're saying thank you ahead of time to Entergy employees who are going to be in the field indefinitely making repairs and getting the grid back online. Meanwhile, here's the lastest from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the status of the region's three nuclear power plants:

As a precautionary measure, the Waterford 3 nuclear plant near Taft, La., shut down when a hurricane warning was issued for St. Charles Parish on Saturday. It remains in an Unusual Event, the lowest of four emergency action levels. Electrical power for key safety systems on site is being supplied by the plant's standby diesel generators, following a loss of off-site power caused by instability in the regional electrical grid.

NRC staff have independently verified that key plant systems and structures, are undamaged and able to support current plant operations. At the direction of the NRC, the nation’s nuclear plants, which are among the most robust structures in the critical infrastructure, have increased security preparedness and capabilities available during emergencies.

A member of the NRC staff plans to accompany officials from the State of Louisiana and the Federal Emergency Management Agency during a survey of the site within the next 48 hours. NRC approval is needed before the plant can be restarted. This survey will include off-site evacuation routes and emergency sirens.

The Grand Gulf nuclear plant near Port Gibson, Miss., and River Bend Nuclear Station near Baton Rouge, La., were both operating at reduced power this morning. The plants operated through the storm, but voluntarily reduced power generation to assist in restoring stability to the electrical grid when a drop in energy consumption caused grid voltage to fluctuate.

Fluor Invests in NuScale

You know, it’s kind of sad that no one is willing to invest in nuclear energy anymore. Wait, what? NuScale Power celebrated the news of its company-saving $30 million investment from Fluor Corp. Thursday morning with a press conference in Washington, D.C. Fluor is a design, engineering and construction company involved with some 20 plants in the 70s and 80s, but it has not held interest in a nuclear energy company until now. Fluor, which has deep roots in the nuclear industry, is betting big on small-scale nuclear energy with its NuScale investment. "It's become a serious contender in the last decade or so," John Hopkins, [Fluor’s group president in charge of new ventures], said. And that brings us to NuScale, which had run into some dark days – maybe not as dark as, say, Solyndra, but dire enough : Earlier this year, the Securities Exchange Commission filed an action against NuScale's lead investor, The Michael Kenwood Group. The firm "misap...

Wednesday Update

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Nuclear Utility Moves Up in Credit Ratings, Bank is "Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy"

Some positive signs that nuclear utilities can continue to receive positive ratings even while they finance new nuclear plants for the first time in decades: Wells Fargo upgrades SCANA to Outperform from Market Perform Wells analyst says, "YTD, SCG shares have underperformed the Regulated Electrics (total return +2% vs. +9%). Shares trade at 11.3X our 10E EPS, a modest discount to the peer group median of 11.8X. We view the valuation as attractive given a comparatively constructive regulatory environment and potential for above-average long-term EPS growth prospects ... Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy. SCG plans to participate in the development of two regulated nuclear units at a cost of $6.3B, raising legitimate concerns regarding financing and construction. We have carefully considered the risks and are comfortable with SCG’s strategy based on a highly constructive political & regulatory environment, manageable financing needs stretched out over 10 years, strong partners...

NEI Nuclear Notes

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