A spokesman for Dominion said Tuesday the company would not speculate on how long it would take to clean the asbestos at the plant or when the station would return to service. He also could not speculate on the future of the plant.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dominion Resources Inc is still cleaning the asbestos at the 743-megawatt Salem Harbor power station following an accident in November 2007 that killed three workers.
A spokesman for Dominion said Tuesday the company would not speculate on how long it would take to clean the asbestos at the plant or when the station would return to service. He also could not speculate on the future of the plant.
Following the accident, there was some talk in the power market that Dominion would retire the plant in part since the coal units entered service in the 1950s.
On November 6, a steam release at the plant's 150 MW coal-fired Unit 3 killed the three workers.
!ADVERTISEMENT!The 743 MW station is located in Salem Harbor in Essex County about 25 miles northeast of Boston. There are four units at the station, including the 82 MW coal/oil Units 1 and 2 (which both entered service in 1952), the 150 MW coal/oil Unit 3 (1958) and the 431 MW oil Unit 4 (1972).
At the time of the accident Units 1, 2 and 3 were operating but Unit 4 was not. The company shut all of the units after the accident to allow for an investigation and cleanup, and they have remained out of service since.
One MW powers about 1,000 homes in Massachusetts.
(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; editing by Jim Marshall)
