The Texas Public Utility Commission last week approved a change to the decommissioning funds for Vistra Energy’s Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant.

During its Jan. 29 open meeting, the PUC signed off on an order that allows Vistra’s Luminant subsidiary to continue its annual decommissioning funding amount of $20.1 million for the plant’s two units. However, the order adjusts the funds’ allocation to 72.3% from 57.1% for Unit 1 and to 27.7% from 42.9% for Unit 2 (50945).

The net after-tax value of the units’ trusts total more than $1.3 billion, with nearly $624 million allocated for Unit 1 and $692.5 million for Unit 2. The plant said external and internal analyses indicates it will cost $1.729 billion to decommission and completely dismantle the facility in 2019 dollars, assuming a 10% contingency.

The commission said Comanche Peak “demonstrated that the funds in its nuclear decommissioning trusts are being invested prudently” and are following its investment guidelines.

Unit 1, which began operating in 1990, is licensed until February 2030. The license for Unit 2, which opened three years later, expires in 2023.

While numerous nuclear plants have received extensions of their original 40-year licenses, others have been shut down as uneconomic, and five reactors totaling 5.1 GW of capacity — Indian Point 3 in New York, and Byron (two units) and Dresden (two units) in Illinois — are scheduled to close this year.

“Given Comanche Peak is one of the youngest plants in the country, significant decisions on license renewal are a few years away, but the plant is currently well positioned, and we have no plans to close it prematurely,” a Vistra spokesman told the Houston Chronicle in 2019.

Other Action

In other actions, the PUC approved a financing order that allows Entergy Texas to issue $539.9 million in transition bonds to recover hurricane-related costs (37247).

It also denied the city of Seymour’s request to overturn an administrative law judge’s December ruling allowing four people to intervene in its request for a declaratory order confirming that Tri-County Electric Cooperative has no grandfathered corridor rights for retail service within its city limits (49726).

Also last week, the commission announced it had promoted agency veteran Connie Corona to the new position of deputy executive director. She was previously the PUC’s chief program officer, guiding the market analysis, customer protection, infrastructure, rate regulation and legal divisions.

“Connie is a walking encyclopedia of industry knowledge who makes everyone around her more focused, productive and effective,” Executive Director Thomas Gleeson said. “We are truly fortunate to have her in such a critical role on our team.”