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At one point early in my power career, I thought it would be neat to install small renewable energy green power stations all over the system to support future load growth. Yay Green! Then I discovered for myself the difference in scale between a kilowatt and a gigawatt (106). Oops. Green power is for people who are bad at math. Yay Atoms!
TVA files license application for new Alabama reactors
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and a consortium of energy companies have applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a license to construct and run two new nuclear reactors at its Bellefonte site in northern Alabama.
The combined construction and operating license (COL) application seeks to build two Westinghouse AP1000 (EDIT: That's 1000MW - each) pressurized water reactors at Bellefonte near Hollywood, Ala., where TVA halted work on two half-finished reactors in 1988 after reevaluating the economics of its nuclear power program.
TVA submitted the COL application with NuStart Energy Development LLC, a consortium of utilities and reactor vendors that was formed in 2004 to share the risk of pursuing new reactor construction, which all but stopped after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979.
Though TVA has not yet decided to build the new reactors, industry officials believe the Bellefonte project has a good chance of coming to fruition because the federal utility does not face the financial pressures of investor-owned utilities. Additionally, sources say a handful of U.S. utilities are interested in directly partnering with TVA on the planned Bellefonte reactor by buying a stake in the project.
In September, Princeton, N.J.-based NRG Energy Inc. became the first U.S. energy company since before Three Mile Island to submit a complete new nuclear plant application. It asked the NRC for a COL for two new boiling water reactors at the South Texas Project nuclear facility near Bay City, Texas.
That step was also significant in that NRG is the first unregulated power provider to shoulder the enormous financial challenge of building a new multi-billion-dollar nuclear plant. All U.S. utilities that have built nuclear plants thus far have been able to pass on approved project costs directly to ratepayers.
Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group and UniStar Nuclear—a partnership of Constellation, French reactor vendor Areva, and French utility EDF—submitted a partial COL application July 13 for a potential new reactor at Constellation’s Calvert Cliffs plant on the Chesapeake Bay. But the partial COL covers environmental issues only; Constellation must still submit the remaining portions of the COL.
The NRC says it expects to receive up to 21 applications for as many as 30 new reactors over the next few years. The new nuclear plans have enjoyed tremendous support from the Bush administration, which has funded NuStart and provided loan guarantees and other financial incentives for new reactors.
In a press release, Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell called the Bellefonte license application “a necessary and monumental step toward the rebirth of nuclear power in the United States, and I commend TVA and NuStart for working with the DOE, and for making headway to build much-needed, new nuclear reactors.”
Not all of the planned projects are expected to get built, however, especially as most are located in the Southeast and it is unlikely that one region needs all the power that the full list would provide.
From among those projects, however, the TVA/Bellefonte proposal has a particularly good chance of succeeding, according to many observers. The Bellefonte site still has infrastructure left that would be useful in building a new reactor, and the site is well-served by transmission lines, sources say. Additionally, a federal power agency like TVA enjoys a degree of decision-making freedom that investor-owned utilities do not. Finally, TVA has the support of NuStart, which has been working on the COL applications jointly with TVA for two years.
If approved by the NRC, the Bellefonte license would be issued to TVA, whose board would make the final decision on whether to build the Bellefonte reactors.
NuStart’s members, however, would benefit by being able to “reference” TVA’s Bellefonte application for any AP1000 reactor designs they might submit, according to the DOE. Four other NuStart member utilities have announced plans to submit COL applications to the NRC by the end of 2008 that will use the AP1000 and reference the Bellefonte application.
Three other NuStart members have announced plans to give NRC license applications for different technologies, either Westinghouse’s AP1000 PWR or Areva’s Evolutionary Pressurized Water Reactor.
TVA files license application for new Alabama reactors
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and a consortium of energy companies have applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a license to construct and run two new nuclear reactors at its Bellefonte site in northern Alabama.
The combined construction and operating license (COL) application seeks to build two Westinghouse AP1000 (EDIT: That's 1000MW - each) pressurized water reactors at Bellefonte near Hollywood, Ala., where TVA halted work on two half-finished reactors in 1988 after reevaluating the economics of its nuclear power program.
TVA submitted the COL application with NuStart Energy Development LLC, a consortium of utilities and reactor vendors that was formed in 2004 to share the risk of pursuing new reactor construction, which all but stopped after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979.
Though TVA has not yet decided to build the new reactors, industry officials believe the Bellefonte project has a good chance of coming to fruition because the federal utility does not face the financial pressures of investor-owned utilities. Additionally, sources say a handful of U.S. utilities are interested in directly partnering with TVA on the planned Bellefonte reactor by buying a stake in the project.
In September, Princeton, N.J.-based NRG Energy Inc. became the first U.S. energy company since before Three Mile Island to submit a complete new nuclear plant application. It asked the NRC for a COL for two new boiling water reactors at the South Texas Project nuclear facility near Bay City, Texas.
That step was also significant in that NRG is the first unregulated power provider to shoulder the enormous financial challenge of building a new multi-billion-dollar nuclear plant. All U.S. utilities that have built nuclear plants thus far have been able to pass on approved project costs directly to ratepayers.
Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group and UniStar Nuclear—a partnership of Constellation, French reactor vendor Areva, and French utility EDF—submitted a partial COL application July 13 for a potential new reactor at Constellation’s Calvert Cliffs plant on the Chesapeake Bay. But the partial COL covers environmental issues only; Constellation must still submit the remaining portions of the COL.
The NRC says it expects to receive up to 21 applications for as many as 30 new reactors over the next few years. The new nuclear plans have enjoyed tremendous support from the Bush administration, which has funded NuStart and provided loan guarantees and other financial incentives for new reactors.
In a press release, Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell called the Bellefonte license application “a necessary and monumental step toward the rebirth of nuclear power in the United States, and I commend TVA and NuStart for working with the DOE, and for making headway to build much-needed, new nuclear reactors.”
Not all of the planned projects are expected to get built, however, especially as most are located in the Southeast and it is unlikely that one region needs all the power that the full list would provide.
From among those projects, however, the TVA/Bellefonte proposal has a particularly good chance of succeeding, according to many observers. The Bellefonte site still has infrastructure left that would be useful in building a new reactor, and the site is well-served by transmission lines, sources say. Additionally, a federal power agency like TVA enjoys a degree of decision-making freedom that investor-owned utilities do not. Finally, TVA has the support of NuStart, which has been working on the COL applications jointly with TVA for two years.
If approved by the NRC, the Bellefonte license would be issued to TVA, whose board would make the final decision on whether to build the Bellefonte reactors.
NuStart’s members, however, would benefit by being able to “reference” TVA’s Bellefonte application for any AP1000 reactor designs they might submit, according to the DOE. Four other NuStart member utilities have announced plans to submit COL applications to the NRC by the end of 2008 that will use the AP1000 and reference the Bellefonte application.
Three other NuStart members have announced plans to give NRC license applications for different technologies, either Westinghouse’s AP1000 PWR or Areva’s Evolutionary Pressurized Water Reactor.
