Grand Gulf, Unit 3

[Rennhack]

On September 22, 2005 it was announced that Grand Gulf had been selected as the site for a GE Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) designated as Grand Gulf Unit 3.

Next to the vacant, waiting Grand Gulf field is an unfinished concrete structure that was to be the containment structure for Unit 2 next to the existing unit 1. In December 1979, staggered by construction cost Entergy (then called Middle South Utilities) stopped work on unit 2.

In 2007, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued an Early Site Permit (ESP) to Grand Gulf. In 2008, Entergy and NuStart submitted a Combined Construction and Operating License (COL) application for a potential new nuclear unit at the Grand Gulf.


Source: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/grand-gulf.html
Source: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/grand-gulf/documents.html
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Gulf_Nuclear_Generating_Station



Entergy's was one of the first two early site permits (ESP) approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March 2007. The ESP, which Entergy received and announced on April 5, 2007, certifies that Grand Gulf site in Mississippi is suitable for a new nuclear unit and resolves many safety and environmental issues related to the site. The ESP remains valid for 20 years. 

Entergy Nuclear's work on the early site permit was part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Nuclear Power 2010 (NP 2010) program. NP 2010 is a joint government/industry cost-shared effort to identify sites for new nuclear power plants, develop and bring to market advanced nuclear plant technologies, evaluate the business case for building new nuclear power plants and demonstrate untested regulatory processes.

This early site permit was referenced in the environmental report for an application for a combined construction and operating license (COL) that was submittal in early 2008. The COL application was from NuStart, a consortium of 12 nuclear companies that includes Entergy Nuclear. NuStart announced Sept. 22, 2005, that it had selected Grand Gulf as one of two plant sites for which it would submit COL applications.