New Nuclear Power Construction Info.

[Rennhack]

DOE said 12 utilities are expected to file papers over the next three years to build 18 nuclear reactors.

February 2006, South Carolina Electric & Gas Company selected the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station near Jenkinsville, South Carolina, as a potential site for a new nuclear plant.

March 2006, Duke Power announced that it selected a site in Cherokee County, South Carolina for a new nuclear plant. The utility is considering two other sites located in North and South Carolina. Plans are also underway to submit licenses for two other potential new nuclear plants in North Carolina and Georgia.

April 2006, the Florida Power & Light Company notified the NRC of its intent to submit a license application in 2009 for a new nuclear power plant in Florida. The utility has not picked a site or technology and does not expect to decide whether or not to build the plant for several years.

May 2006, the Tennessee Valley Authority has received a new operating license for its Browns Ferry Unit 1 nuclear plant, which was shuttered in 1985 and plans to restart the reactor in May 2007.

On June 19, 2006, NRG Energy, Inc. filed a letter of intent with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to construct two plants at the site of its South Texas Project nuclear facility. Construction is expected to cost $5.2 billion and is expected within the next 10 years, it would bring about 3,000 construction jobs per unit and 1,000 permanent jobs to Matagorda County.  The facility is located on the Gulf Coast near Wadsworth, Texas, about 90 miles southwest of Houston. South Texas 3 and 4 will be 1,350 megawatts each, for a total of 2700 Mwe. They will be Advanced Boiler Water Reactors (ABWR), a technology developed by General Electric Corporation.

June 25, 2006 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued its first license for a major commercial nuclear facility in 30 years, allowing an international consortium to build what will be the nation's first private fuel source for commercial nuclear power plants.  Construction of the $1.5 billion National Enrichment Facility, under review for the past 2 1/2 years, could begin in August 2006, and the plant could be ready to sell enriched uranium by early 2009, said the consortium of nuclear companies, Louisiana Energy Services. The plant will be built near the small southeastern New Mexico community of Eunice, where support for the project is strong.

July 19th, 2006, The Energy Department has set a new schedule for the long-delayed Yucca Mountain repository, projecting a March 2017 date to begin accepting high level nuclear waste at the Nevada site.

July 26, 2006  - To prepare for the nuclear industry’s interest in licensing and building new nuclear power plants in the near term, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is reorganizing its Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation to create an Office of New Reactors.

August 2006, The Southern Company, will formally apply to the NRC for an early site permit. Southern Company will receive a license to build and operate Vogtle 3 & 4 in 2010. Construction will take five years. Electricity will begin to flow to the residents of Georgia in 2015.

August 2006, Amarillo Power is interested in bringing a nuclear power plant to Amarillo, the area has long been home to Pantex, the nation's only nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility. The proposal calls for a two-unit, 2,700-megawatt advanced boiled water reactor designed by General Electric. Amarillo Power notified the NRC of its plans in March 2006, but asked the agency to keep the proposal confidential.  In August 2006, Amarillo Power sent the NRC a letter saying it no longer considered the information proprietary.

August 2006, TVA may resume construction of its Unit 2 reactor at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, pending a comprehensive evaluation of the cost and schedule for completing the unit. Work on Unit 2 stopped in 1985. The detailed study will provide an evaluation of the engineering work, cost and timetable required to complete the unit.

August 3rd 2006 — UniStar Nuclear, made up of Constellation and Areva has ordered  “tens of millions of dollars,” worth of the heavy steel parts needed to make a ‘evolutionary power reactor’, or EPR, the first hardware order for a plant since the 1970’s. Potential sites include Calvert Cliffs and the Nine Mile Point. The EPR is a design based on the old Westinghouse PWR, which was dominant in the last round of reactor construction.  It is 1,600 megawatts, about a third larger than the largest reactor operating here. And because of design changes, it has 47 percent fewer valves, 16 percent fewer pumps and 50 percent fewer tanks than a typical existing model.

August 4th, 2006 - US unveils $2 bln insurance for nuke plant delays.  The U.S. Energy Department on Friday set rules on how utilities can qualify for a $2 billion pool of federal risk insurance that is meant to spur construction of the first new nuclear plants in 30 years.  The first six new projects to apply for building licenses could qualify for the funds, which would reimburse utilities for delays from unforeseen legal issues and bureaucratic snags, the Energy Department said.

August 5th, 2006 - The DOE will dedicate $20 million to study potential sites for its Global Nuclear Energy Partnership facilities. The two facilities include a consolidated fuel treatment center and an advanced burner reactor. The treatment center would be capable of separating used fuel into usable and waste components, and the reactor would convert transuranics into shorter-lived radioisotopes and produce electricity.

Aug. 7, 2006 GE and STP have signed a project development agreement to study the deployment and begin licensing activities for two GE Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWRs) that would be located at the South Texas Project Electric Generating Station (STP). The agreement comes just weeks after STP's 44 percent owner, NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE: NRG), announced its intention to pursue the two-unit ABWR project.

{stopped following news for a while}

March 27, 2007 Entergy Nuclear today received from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission an early site permit for a possible new nuclear unit at the Grand Gulf site in Mississippi. The commissioners on March 27 authorized the NRC's Office of New Reactors to write and issue the permit.

[Rennhack]

Exelon Nuclear Receives Early Site Permit for Clinton Location

2007-03-16 01:42:52 -

WARRENVILLE, Ill., March 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Exelon Nuclear today at a signing ceremony held at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's office in Rockville, Md., received an Early Site Permit from the NRC, the first permit of its kind in the industry.
The permit allows Exelon to "bank" the property located adjacent to the Clinton Power Station in Clinton, Ill., for a potential new reactor for up to 20 years. It resolves site suitability, environmental protection, and emergency preparedness issues associated with the site should Exelon decide to build a nuclear plant; however, it does not authorize construction of a new plant.

Exelon has no immediate plans to build a nuclear plant at the site.

"The issuance of the permit demonstrates the viability of the application process, which is a significant contribution to the industry's efforts for licensing new plants," said Exelon Nuclear President and Chief Nuclear Officer Chris Crane.

Should the company decide to build a power plant, it would need to apply for a Combined Operating License that would allow for the construction and operation of a nuclear power plant, a separate process involving additional public input.

"The residents living near Clinton Power Station have been supportive of our plant since it began operations almost 20 years ago. I'd like to thank the residents of Clinton and surrounding areas, the DeWitt County Board and the City of Clinton officials who supported us at the permit hearings during the past several years," said Bryan Hanson, Clinton Site Vice President.

According to Crane, several conditions would have to fall into place before Exelon would consider building a nuclear plant at the site, including a workable solution to the spent fuel disposal issue, community acceptance, the right reactor technology and favorable economics.

Exelon began the permit process in 2002 and filed its application with the NRC on Sept. 25, 2003. The Clinton site was selected because it originally was designed for two units, but only one was built. Also, the area has an experienced workforce and it is strategically located for electricity generation and distribution.

The Clinton ESP project was co-funded by the Department of Energy under its Nuclear Power 2010 Program, with Exelon and the DOE equally splitting the approximate $15 million cost.

In 1989, the NRC established two new alternative licensing processes for new plants: a Combined Operating License and the Early Site Permit process. The COL essentially combines a construction permit and an operating license, with certain conditions, into a single license. The ESP process allows an applicant to obtain approval for a reactor site and "bank" it for future use. Both processes require approval from the NRC.

Exelon Corporation is one of the nation's largest electric utilities with more than $15 billion in annual revenues. The company has one of the industry's largest portfolios of electricity generation capacity, with a nationwide reach and strong positions in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. Exelon distributes electricity to approximately 5.4 million customers in northern Illinois and Pennsylvania and natural gas to approximately 480,000 customers in the Philadelphia area. Exelon is headquartered in Chicago and trades on the NYSE under the ticker EXC.

Source: Exelon Nuclear

[Roll Tide]

And now there are two:


No. 07-039 March 27, 2007 


COMMISSION VOTE AUTHORIZES EARLY SITE PERMIT FOR GRAND GULF SITE IN MISSISSIPPI
Printable Version


By a 5-0 vote, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission today authorized the NRC's Office of New Reactors to issue an Early Site Permit (ESP) to System Energy Resources Inc. for the Grand Gulf ESP site near Port Gibson, Miss. The staff has 10 business days to carry out the Commission's directions and issue the permit, the second ESP the NRC has approved.

Successful completion of the ESP process resolves many site-related safety and environmental issues, and determines the site is suitable for possible future construction and operation of a nuclear power plant. The company filed its ESP application Oct. 21, 2003. The permit will be valid for up to 20 years. During that time, the company (or any other potential applicant interested in the site) must still seek NRC approval for a Combined License to build one or more nuclear plants on the site before any significant construction can occur.

The NRC staff's technical review of the Grand Gulf ESP application covered issues such as how the site's characteristics affect plant safety, environmental protection, and plans for coping with emergencies. The staff published a final safety evaluation and a final environmental impact statement for the Grand Gulf ESP in April 2006. The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) conducted a hearing on the matter and ruled Jan. 26 that the permit could be issued.

The NRC issued the first-ever ESP for the Clinton site in Illinois on March 15. The NRC continues to work on two other ESP applications, North Anna in Virginia and Vogtle in Georgia. The staff has completed its technical review of the North Anna application, which is currently the focus of an ASLB hearing. The staff expects to issue a draft environmental impact statement and initial safety report on the Vogtle application by late summer. Copies of the Grand Gulf ESP and related documents will be available on the agency's Web site at this address: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-licensing/esp/grand-gulf.html. The documents are also available for inspection at the NRC's Public Document Room in Rockville, Md., and at the Harriette Person Memorial Library in Port Gibson.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Rennhack]

The NRC site lists 4 Early Site Permits Application Reviews:

Clinton ESP Site
Grand Gulf ESP Site
North Anna ESP Site
Vogtle ESP Site

[Rennhack]

April 5, 2007

AmerenUE agreed to work with UniStar Nuclear to take the first step to apply for a license to build and operate a new nuclear plant, the Ameren Corp. unit said Thursday.

Under the agreement, the two companies will work together in preparing a combined construction and operating license application (COLA) for filing with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), according to a release. A COLA application describes how a nuclear plant would be designed, constructed and operated.

Ameren officials said in a release that preparing a COLA, the first step in the regulatory licensing process, does not mean a decision has been made to build a nuclear plant.

AmerenUE and UniStar Nuclear need to submit the COLA to the NRC in 2008 to be eligible for incentives available under provisions of the 2005 Energy Policy Act.

UniStar Nuclear selected the U.S. Evolutionary Power Reactor (U.S. EPR) design as its technology of choice and is working with nuclear utility licensees across the nation to explore suitable sites for U.S. EPR nuclear plants, including Ameren's nuclear plant in Callaway County, Mo.

AmerenUE has operated the single-unit nuclear plant in Callaway County since 1984.

UniStar Nuclear is a new joint venture, headquartered in Annapolis, Md., equally owned by Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group (NYSE: CEG) and Bethesda, Md.-based AREVA Inc. UniStar Nuclear helps develop, license, construct and operate new, standardized nuclear units.

St. Louis-based Ameren Corp. (NYSE: AEE) provides electricity and natural gas to customers in eastern Missouri and Illinois.

[shayne]

I'm interested to see this...

http://www.idahoenergycomplex.com/

The facility will feature advanced reliability and safety features in addition to a new 'dry' nuclear reactor design – meaning that it does not require large amounts of water piped in for cooling purposes. Furthermore, IEC will use the plant's excess heat from nuclear generation to produce biofuels like ethanol, thereby further reducing cooling requirements and giving local farmers a market for their crops and agricultural waste.

[RRhoads]

well..THIS is what The World Nuclear Association has to say about the applications that are pending.
Total 34 units- 38,000+ MWe!

full text is here
Some interesting reading.

[Rennhack]

Update:

On July 13th, 2007, Unistar (Constellation Energy Group & AREVA) Submitted the first liscense (COLA) application for a new nuke plant in 30 years for Calvert Cliffs Unit 3.
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-licensing/col.html

Calvert Cliffs Unit 3 won't come online until at least mid-2014 and is among a new wave of about 19 reactors that will be considered by the NRC during the next 12 months.
No applications for a new nuclear power plant have been filed since 1976, and those were for plants that were never built.  So this really IS a big deal.
The Calvert Cliffs application is actually a partial one, and includes the environmental portion of what the NRC calls its combined operating license. The remainder of that combination – regarding safety – must be filed in the next six months. Burnell said Unistar has told the NRC to expect the safety portion of the application in early 2008.
NRC staff is expected to take about two-and-a-half years for a technical review of the full license, with an expected additional year if the new the plant is contested.
2008 + 3.5 years = Construction starts ~ Summer 2011

Once the NRC starts considering the application, the clock starts running on review costs, which could reach $23 million for Constellation, and application costs could eventually reach $100 million, part of which would be covered by the Energy Department to encourage development.

The proposed 1600-megawatt reactor will cost an estimated $5 billion to construct, but that price tag may increase depending largely on construction material cost.

There are 4 Early Site Permit (ESP) Applications
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-licensing/esp.html

Clinton ESP Site - Exelon Generation Company, LLC ESP - Application received September 25, 2003
Grand Gulf ESP Site - System Energy Resources Inc. ESP - Application received October 21, 2003
North Anna ESP Site - Dominion Nuclear North Anna, LLC ESP - Application received September 25, 2003
Vogtle ESP Site - Southern Nuclear Operating Company - Application received August 15, 2006



Most of the companies that plan to build plants should have their COLA's in to the NRC the end of 2007-2008, so expect to see that COLA list grow in the next 12 months.  Potential COLA's include:

NuStart   *Bellefonte, Alabama - TVA
NuStart   Grand Gulf, MS - Entergy
Dominion   North Anna, Virginia - Dominion
Entergy   River Bend, LA - Entergy
Duke Energy & Southern   Lee/Cherokee, South Carolina - Duke
Southern Co   Vogtle, Georgia - Southern
South Carolina Elect & Gas   Summer, SC - South Carolina Elect & Gas
Unistar   * Calvert Cliffs MD - Constellation
Unistar   Nine Mile Point NY - Constellation
Progress Energy   Harris NC - Progress
Progress Energy   near Crystal R., Florida - Progress
NRG Energy   South Texas, STP Nuclear
Amarillo Power   Amarillo, Tx, Amarillo
Exelon   new site, SE Texas, Exelon
TXU Corporation   Comanche Peak Tx, TXU
Alternate Energy Holdings Inc   Grand View, Idaho, AEHI
Florida Power & Light   Turkey Point, Florida - FPL
DTE Energy   Fermi, Michigan - DTE Energy
PPL & partner   Susquehanna, PA - PPL
AmerenUE   Callaway, Fulton, Missouri - Ameren

Neither ESP nor COL commits anyone to build anything, but they are a step in the right direction.

Constellation Senior vice-president George Vanderheyden told the Washington Post that Constellation has not yet decided to build a new reactor but is "moving as aggressively as we can down the first phase, which is the licensing phase." However, he said, Constellation has been positioning itself to build a new fleet of standardized nuclear power plants for which the Calvert Cliffs unit would be a model.

[Rennhack]

Preparing for new build

There are three regulatory initiatives which boost the prospects of building new plants in the next few years. As well as the Design Certification process described above, there is provision for Early Site Permits (ESP) and Combined Construction-Operating Licences (COL) - both with costs shared by DOE.

The 2001 ESP program has attracted four applicants: Exelon, Entergy, Dominion and Southern for Clinton, Grand Gulf, North Anna and Vogtle sites respectively - all with operating nuclear plants already but room for more. In March 2007 Exelon was awarded the first ESP for its Clinton plant in Illinois, after 41 months processing by the NRC and public review, and the NRC decided to award the second ESP to Entergy for its Grand Gulf site. Further ESP applications are pending. No plant type is specified with an ESP application, but the site is declared suitable on safety, environmental and related grounds for a new nuclear power plant.

In 2003 the DOE called for COL proposals under its Nuclear Power 2010 program on the basis that it would fund up to half the cost of any accepted. The COL program has two objectives: to encourage utilities to take the initiative in licence application, and to encourage reactor vendors to undertake detailed engineering and arrive at reliable cost estimates. For the first, DOE matching funds of up to about $50 million are available, and for the second, up to some $200 million per vendor, to be recouped from royalty.

In 2004 two utility-vendor consortia announced that they were seeking DOE funding for preparing COL applications for new reactors. A third utility-vendor partnership was formed in 2005:

NuStart Energy Development, which is composed of companies which generate more than half of US nuclear electricity plus Westinghouse and General Electric. It has identified Entergy's Grand Gulf site for an ESBWR reactor and Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA's) Bellefonte site for two AP1000 reactors.
A consortium led by Dominion and involving General Electric plans to submit a COL application based on an ESBWR alongside the two operating PWRs at the North Anna site.
UniStar is based on a business framework developed jointly by Areva (France) and Constellation Energy exploring how to build at least four of Areva's advanced EPR nuclear units in the USA. In mid 2007 UniStar Nuclear Energy - a 50-50 Constellation - EdF joint venture holding company was launched to proceed with plans to build, own and operate a fleet of US EPR units in USA and Canada.
Other utilities have also announced plans to submit COL applications, and some utilities that are already part of the above consortia have plans to make submissions of their own. In total, the NRC expects more than 27 applications for licenses for new nuclear reactors over the next few years.




Prospective COL Applications

NuStart Energy Development LLC comprises nine major utilities* brought together by Entergy and representing more than half of the US nuclear plants. It involves Westinghouse, General Electric and EdF International and will pursue the Westinghouse AP1000 and GE's ESBWR technology options before submitting applications about 2008. It has identified Entergy's Grand Gulf site for an ESBWR reactor and Tenessee Valley Authority's (TVA's) Bellefonte site for two AP1000 reactors. It is headed by an Exelon senior executive. In May 2005 it signed an agreement with DOE to split the estimated $520 million cost of completing detailed engineering work on one of the two designs.

* Constellation, Duke, EdF International, Entergy, Exelon,. FPL, Progress, Southern & TVA.

The second consortium is led by Dominion and originally included Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL), Hitachi and Bechtel. It started to pursue AECL's ACR-700 option, developed from the successful CANDU-6 heavy-water design but with light water cooling. Hitachi and Bechtel were key contributors to the successful completion of recent CANDU plants in China. However, in January 2005 AECL and Hitachi were replaced by General Electric and the ESBWR became the favoured technology. The reason given for this was NRC indication that certification of the ACR design would be very slow, whereas that of the US technology - developed from designs already approved - would be much quicker. In April 2005 it signed an agreement with DOE to split the estimated $440 million cost of its COL work on the ESBWR, and development costs will be shared with NuStart.

In addition to these costs, the main design certification and engineering costs will be borne by the vendor partners.

The Westinghouse AP1000 was given full design certification by NRC in 2005. The ESBWR is under review for NRC certification, with design approval expected in 2007. The three advanced reactor designs already certified by NRC have been bypassed, though the AP1000 is developed from one of them and the a 1500 MWe version of the ESBWR from another - the ABWR - several of which are operating in Japan.

UniStar Nuclear Energy (UNE) started in 2005 as a joint project of Areva (France) and Constellation Energy to develop a business framework for building at least four of Areva's advanced US-EPR nuclear units in North America. The US design certification process was commenced with Areva's help and the application will be lodged early in 2008. Bechtel Power Corporation supported UniStar with engineering and construction expertise and in mid 2006 an agreement was signed with Electricite de France (EdF) for technical assistance. On the basis of the business framework developed over two years, in mid 2007 EdF became the 50-50 partner with Constellation and pledged $350 million cash upfront and up to $625 million total to the joint venture which aims to build, own and operate a fleet of US-EPR units in USA and Canada.

Entergy also plans a COL on its own for an ESBWR unit at River Bend, and Duke Power plans a COL for two Westinghouse AP1000 units in South Carolina. Constellation Energy plans a COL for a US EPR (in collaboration with Unistar - see below) at a site to be decided. Progress Energy is planning to apply for two COLs in late 2007 for two twin-unit plants, one in the Carolinas and one in Florida. The sites and technology will be decided in 2006. Entergy, Duke and Constellation are part of the NuStart consortium.

Under the same DOE COL program, a consortium led by TVA undertook a $4 million feasibility study half funded by DOE on building two new ABWRs at Bellefonte in Alabama. It consists of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) plus vendors GE and Toshiba as well as Bechtel, GE Global Nuclear Fuels and USEC. The TVA site has two large PWR units whose construction was abandoned in 1988 after $2.5 billion had been spent and unit 1 largely (88%) completed. The 1350 MWe ABWR was the first Generation 3 reactor design to enter service, and while a number of units are operating and under construction in Japanand it already has design certification in the USA, TVA apparently decided not to proceed as they would be the only ABWR units in USA. However the figures are noteworthy: twin 1371 MWe ABWRs would be $1611 per kilowatt, or if they were uprated to 1465 MWe each, $1535 /kW, and built in 40 months.

Constellation is part of the NuStart consortium considering combined construction and operating licences (COL) for new US plants, and to accommodate the new EPRs it withdrew two sites from consideration for NuStart COL. The UniStar COL timetable would be much the same as NuStart's, with application in 2008, construction start in 2010 and operation 2015. Overnight capital cost is put at up to $2000 per kilowatt, depending on site.

In mid 2006 NRG Energy announced plans to build 8 GWe of base-load capacity across the USA in the next decade, notably two 1358 MWe ABWR nuclear units from GE-Hitachi costing $5.2 billion at its South Texas NPP site, coming on line 2014-15. Japan's Tepco, the most experienced operator of ABWRs, agreed to assist NRG Energy and STP Nuclear Operating Co with these. However, by mid 2007 NRG appeared to be focusing on Westinghouse reactors for the site. The company aims to reduce dependence on natural gas and reduce the carbon intensity of its base-load fleet by 20-25%. This is the most conservative equipment choice among potential new nuclear build in USA, reflecting the fact that such GE-Hitachi units are well proven, four of them having been operating in Japan for up to ten years, and they are fully certified in USA. The "investments will be underpinned by long-term offtake contracts and hedges" as well as equity partners, which will be innovative in the US context. Most of the rest of the base-load capacity is to be coal-fired. The company plans to apply for a COL late in 2007.

In February 2007 DTE Energy announced that it would apply for a COL for a new plant at its Fermi site in Michigan.

In mid 2007 AmerenUE announced that it was planning to build a US-EPR unit at Callaway, Missouri to meet increased base-load demand in 2017-18, and would lodge a COL application late in 2008. In May AmerenUE contracted with Areva Inc for heavy forgings from Japan Steel Works for this, to be delivered in 2010-11.

TXU expects to lodge the combined construction and operating licence (COL) application for its new nuclear units at Comanche Peak by October 2008, to bring the units on line about 2015. It has deferred plans to build new nuclear units at other sites. Design certification application for the Mitsubishi US-APWR reactors is expected in March 2008 with approval possibly in 2011.

Outside the mainstream utilities, Alternate Energy Holdings Inc proposes building a 1600 MWe nuclear unit near Grand View, Idaho, and says it has raised $3.5 billion finance for this from a group of investors through Cobblestone Financial Group. The proposed reactor will provide electricity for local farm co-op irrigation, but the majority of output will be sold in the national energy market and it could also be used to co-generate ethanol. Meanwhile, AEHI has gained the support of local Native American tribesmen for the plant. A COL application is envisaged late in 2007.

Several companies have ordered heavy forgings and other long lead time equipment for building new plants, in advance of specific plans or approvals. In 2006 Areva (for UniStar Nuclear joint venture) ordered heavy forgings from suppliers in Japan and France in anticipation of US orders for new US-EPR reactors - evidently for Constellation at Calvert Cliffs and AmerenUE at Callway. Areva also arranged with BWX Technologies in Virginia to supply major EPR components such as steam generators and pressure vessels.

In 2006 GE Energy arranged production slots for forgings from Japan Steel Works for ESBWR and ABWR units. In April 2007 Dominion contracted with it - now GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy - for major ESBWR components for North Anna, and in July Entergy signed up for ESBWR components for either Grand Gulf or River Bend. These moves will put them in front of any supply bottlenecks when orders are confirmed.


The COLs will be lodged with a particular design and site nominated, though the design certification need not be complete. Dominion is expected to lodge its COL application in 2006, before full ESBWR design certification. The NRC was expected to take two years to review each COL application, with decision anticipated in 2008 for the Dominion consortium and 2010 for NuStart, since it originally intended to await design certification for both reactor types before choosing between them and lodging its COL application in 2008. However, in 2007 NRC was estimating 42 months for processing the first few COL applications.

Neither ESP nor COL commits anyone to build anything, but they will expedite future plans for new build.

While the focus is on new technology, TVA is funding a study on completing its half-built 1167 MWe Watts Bar-2 reactor, which could be on line about 2013.

In the meantime, TVA has rebuilt Browns Ferry-1 which was shut down in 1985. The 5-year refurbishment program also increased its power to 1155 MWe, similar to the newer units 2 & 3. It already has an operating licence and started up in May 2007. It is expected back in full operation later in 2007.

As about 15 companies and consortia prepare to lodge combined construction and operation licence applications for up to 33 new reactors, the US Nuclear Energy Institute says that they will have invested at least $2 billion by the end of 2007. This money is being spent on design and engineering work for new reactor types, on preparation of licence applications and in procurement of long-lead equipment such as reactor vessels and steam generators. While not all the proposals are likely to go forward in the short term, some 40 GWe of new capacity is involved. Financing will be a major challenge.

[Rennhack]

Energy Policy Act 2005

After much preliminary debate the Energy Policy Act 2005 comfortably passed both houses - 74-26 in the Senate and 275-156 in the House. It included incentives for the nuclear power industry including:

production tax credit of 1.8 c/kWh from the first 6000 MWe of new nuclear plants in their first 8 years of operation (same as for wind power on unlimited basis),
federal risk insurance of $2 billion to cover regulatory delays in full-power operation of the first six advanced new plants,
rationalised tax on decommissioning funds (some reduced),
federal loan guarantees for advanced nuclear reactors or other emission-free technologies up to 80% of the project cost,
the Price Anderson Act for nuclear liability protection extended for 20 years.
support for advanced nuclear technology.
Also $1.25 billion was authorised for an advanced high-temperature reactor (Next Generation Nuclear Plant) at the Idaho National Laboratory, capable of cogenerating hydrogen. Overall more than $2 billion was provided for hydrogen demonstration projects.

In 2006 it was spelled out that the 6000 MWe eligible for production tax credits would be divided pro-rata among those applicants which filed COL applications by the end of 2008, which commence construction of advanced plants by 2014, and which enter service by 2021.

The Act also addressed climate change, requiring action on a national strategy to address the issue by 2007. In 2005 the USA emitted 5.9 billion tonnes of CO2 from energy use.

[Rennhack]

Sept 27 (Reuters) - The board of Tennessee Valley Authority moved a step closer to seeking approval to license two new nuclear reactors in Alabama, the agency said on Thursday.

The board of the largest U.S. public power supplier approved submitting an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission seeking a license to build and operate two advanced nuclear units at TVA's Bellefonte site in Hollywood, Ala.

A decision to build the plant would require further board action following the licensing process, TVA said in a release.

Licensing of new reactors in the U.S. came to a halt after the 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania.

This week, Princeton, New Jersey-based NRG Energy (NRG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) filed an application with the NRC seeking a license to build two reactors in Texas, the first complete request filed with the agency to construct new reactors in the United States in nearly three decades.

Last month, Constellation Energy Group Inc (CEG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and French-owned Areva (CEPFi.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) submitted a partial request to build new reactors in Maryland.

The NRC expects filings from four more nuclear players before the end of the year, including the Bellefonte application, a spokesman said.

TVA's Bellefonte site is one of two sites being considered by NuStart Energy, a consortium of 10 utilities.

"NuStart's commitment is to continue providing the resources necessary to support quick and accurate responses as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission conducts its technical and environmental reviews and to ensure the application successfully earns approval," NuStart president Marilyn Kray said in a statement.

NuStart plans to use the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor design.

Bellefonte is the site where TVA deferred completion of two partially built reactors in 1988, 14 years after the NRC issued construction permits.

In 2005, TVA canceled the project and began considering the site for new advanced reactors. Costs of the canceled project were amortized over a 10-year period.