Why has there never been commercial electricity production at Raft River?
Under US law the DOE cannot compete with private industry. When Raft River was closed down in 1983 the Pacific Northwest had a surplus of the lowest cost electricity. This situation was due to the availability of excess capacity in the BPA system and coal-fired expansion initiated in the 1970s by regional utilities including Utah Power, Idaho Power, Avista and Pacific Power. Accordingly, none of these utilities were interested in taking over the project. The site was “mothballed” and was later sold by the DOE in 1984.
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